Role Reversal
by QueenKeesie
Summary: A/U After Cell, Bulma and Videl develop a surprising friendship and some secrets are shared between them, some aren't. When Gohan attends Orange Star High School he not only has to deal with the famous Videl Satan and her suspicious behaviors, but also a mysterious vigilante tackling crime in Satan City as well!
1. Gohan I

It was a perfectly normal early morning in Satan City. The streets were full of people on their way to work or school, including Son Gohan.

Taking a deep breath as he readjusted his bag, Gohan attempted to calm down his nerves. He had just conspicuously landed behind the largest and most significantly busiest train station in the city. Today was his first day at Orange Star high school and his insides were trembling from being so nervous. He had the unfortunate experience of only finding out that he was going to be attending less than a week ago. It had come on as a complete shock because while his mother had always toyed with the idea of him attending a normal school she would usually get discouraged and abandon the idea, until last night. Her voice boasting that Orange Star was one of the best schools around and that it would be good for him was still echoing in his head.

Stepping out from the alley and into the main street, he took a second to view the busy city around him. It was actually his mother's idea to use the train station as a landing spot since it would always be full of people trying to get somewhere who would be too preoccupied to notice anything else. The school enforced a traditional uniform policy, consisting of slacks, button-up shirt, blazer, and tie for males, which was annoying for Gohan. He nervously pulled at the tie around his neck having never worn one before until now, finding it completely restricting and uncomfortable.

Gohan glanced at his watch and saw that he was good on time and wouldn't need to rush. He had no idea what to expect on his first day or what the other students would be like. The only student he knew, and definitely not personally, that attended was Videl Satan, the daughter of the city's namesake. While he had never actually met her, Videl's family was just too famous to not be familiar with. He had definitely seen her photograph all over the papers and on the news.

A tinge of red appeared on his cheeks as he thought of her because it was this girl in particular who had been a major topic for discussion at many of the reunions Gohan had attended with his friends and family. Specifically that of Videl's lack of resemblance to her father, Mr. Satan. Several of the older men in the group, such as Krillin and Yamcha, had regularly pointed out that she was attractive and went as far as teasing Gohan about it. They would suggest that Gohan go and find Videl tell her the truth of her Father's claim to fame and attempt to woo her for himself. It was all a joke of course, but Gohan's awkward silences were more than enough ammunition for the joking to continue. It was usually Bulma, the female matriarch of their group that would tell the others to hush.

He didn't know much about her, but her image was commonplace in the media and there was one photo in particular that had somehow managed to take roots in Gohan's mind. It was in some fashion magazine of Bulma's and he remembered the moment his mother had flipped to the exact page during a visit to Capsule Corp. It was a photo of Videl with her father at an art museum opening, her father in the front donning one of his signature poses. Videl was further back behind him wearing a blue dress looking away from the camera which captured a flattering angle. Even his mother had complimented her dress and began a long conversation with Bulma about it consisting of oohs and awes.

The sound of an ear screeching alarm snapped him out of his thoughts, however, along with hearing a rush of people exiting a large building. Gohan looked up at the front of the building's facade and was able to determine that this building was one of the larger banks in Satan City.

"That's him, don't let him get away!" a voice screamed as a man dressed in all black complete with a ski mask ran past holding a bag over his shoulder.

Just as Gohan was about to chase after him, he felt a gentle squeeze on his shoulder from behind holding him back. Completely surprised by this, he turned around to see a short figure looking back at him.

The mysterious figure had a midnight black spandex suit on most of their body, with an equally as black chest piece covering the front, this ended at the neck, where only the bottom half of the face could be seen, and a smooth dark navy helmet began. The helmet itself looked high-tech and had what appeared to be an opaque visor over the eyes. There was also a long navy cape attached to the shoulders of the costume as well, concealing most of this person's body.

"Pardon me sir, but let me deal with this!", the figure said, the voice obviously disguised digitally somehow sounding much more robotic than human, before running after the perpetrator.

It took half a second for Gohan to jump back up and begin chasing both of them, only for several police vehicles to catch up, their sirens blazing.

"Young man, stop! The police are here!" a police officer yelled from the window of one of the cars, pulling over in front of him.

Gohan was really at a loss as to what to do now, of course, he could easily jump over and catch this bank robber, but with so many eyes and ears around how was he to do it? Clenching his fists in frustration he was nearly about to just push his way through when the radio inside the car blocking him went off.

"Calling all units, the bank robber on the loose has been apprehended!"

As much as Gohan wanted to see what was happening, the police had begun to push him back and began taping off the area. People suddenly multiplied and were all attempting to get a good look at the scene. Soon it was flooded with cellphones of all sorts attempting to get either photo or video footage. It was far too much exposure for him to do anything at this point.

"Young man, that wasn't a very smart thing to do you know, you should really be in school.", the same officer that had spoken to him earlier said, chastising him.

Gohan's eyes widened at the statement though, having completely forgotten about his first day at school. He nervously nodded at the policeman and began running the other direction, desperately hoping he wouldn't be late.

Only a few minutes later, Gohan had actually managed to make it across the city to Orange Star High and was currently waiting in the school's admissions office to be shown to his classroom. His heart began to race a bit since the moment he was dreading was vastly approaching.

After being introduced to the class by the teacher, he was told to choose a seat. Looking up at the rows of uniform-clad students above he really had no idea where to go. Fortunately for him, a short-haired blonde girl waved for him to sit next to her, maybe a tad too enthusiastically, but he didn't really have a choice.

"Hi Gohan, I'm Erasa and this is Sharpener!", the blonde said cheerfully gesturing to the equally as blonde male next to him.

Sharpener looked up at Gohan and simply said, "Hey", before turning his attention to the teacher below.

Gohan took his seat and began pulling out his notebook and pen. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

The teacher began his lecture about the history and for a solid thirty minutes, everything appeared fine. Gohan just tried his best to keep paying attention and take notes. He was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone else was doing the same. He really didn't know how he was going to compare to the rest of the students. His mother had been convinced that he would be the best and brightest, but he knew from experience to never underestimate others. The whole purpose of him coming to this school was to be more academically challenged and he had hoped he wouldn't be bored by this supposedly advance curriculum.

In the midst of it, all his mind couldn't help but wander back to the events this of this morning, particularly the run-in with that strange masked person in the even weirder costume that had been chasing that bank robber. Who was that? Had the criminal been apprehended by them or by the police?

The flood of questions running through his mind was abruptly stopped when the door to the classroom opened. His eyes looked at the door before feeling a rush of warmth to his cheeks at seeing who it was.

"Sorry I'm late, I had a last minute appointment come up.", the newcomer to the classroom said, in a clear feminine voice. It was Videl Satan and she appeared with the same mannerisms as she had in that photo. Her hair was long and was neatly flowing beneath her shoulders, the tie of her uniform neatly tucked into her blazer which matched her skirt, and her hands were gently holding her bag. She was looking away from the rows of students as if to avoid their eyes, just as she had with the mob of photographers.

The teacher simply nodded, "It's fine Videl, just go sit.", he said quickly before turning back to the board and going back to the lesson.

Gohan couldn't help but stare as she approached the row of desks he was currently in and to add to his discomfort she passed dangerously close to him and sat opposite of Erasa. The elegant feminine presence that had been captured in photographs of her was indeed real and something about it was making his heart tighten ever so slightly.

"Oh Videl, this is our new student, Gohan!", Erasa quickly chirped, but still quiet enough to keep the teacher from hearing.

Videl then turned to look at him, her big blue eyes making direct contact with his. For a second she looked a little caught off guard, which Gohan assumed was probably a combination of not being aware of his new presence in their class along with the embarrassment of being late. She quickly gave a small friendly smile before whispering to him, "Hi", and proceeded to reach into her bag while simultaneously flipping her long dark hair over her shoulder.

Gohan didn't know why but that unsettling feeling was becoming even worse and spreading through his chest.

Erasa then covered her mouth from the side and whispered at Gohan, "You know who she is right?", she said with a slight wink.

Gohan then felt sheepish before awkwardly putting his hand behind his head and whispering back, "Um, yeah, Mr. Satan's daughter right?" Normally he wouldn't have felt comfortable putting someone in the spot like that, but wouldn't he seem like the weird one not knowing who she was?

Hearing him say that, Videl's eyes glanced back at him for a second, giving him the chills, before scoffing at Erasa. "Erasa leave him alone and be quiet before we all get in trouble."

Erasa simply smiled and stuck her tongue out at Videl with a wink.

Nearing the end of the day, Gohan was walking back to the train station to make his quick venture home. Luckily for him, everyone who had asked how he got to school and back had bought his answer of taking the train.

Ascending in the air his thoughts ventured back to his day and how he actually did have most of his classes with the trio of students he had met this morning and that the day had gone extremely well. While he knew that Orange Star High was an exceptional school for only the most gifted of students, he really hadn't expected everyone to be so nice and well, smart.

He learned that both Erasa and Sharpener wanted to be doctors and because so, they were in the same science-based classes as him. They had both been friendly to him and hadn't been at all surprised to learn that he had been homeschooled before attending here. Apparently, it was quite common for most of the students in the school.

Videl Satan, however, had been something else. He couldn't help but keep comparing her to the instances that he had seen her father and she really was nothing like him. Even just a few interactions the two of them had that day had revealed to Gohan that unlike Mr. Satan who was boastful and loud, Videl was surprisingly quite quiet and graceful. She didn't say much and mostly kept to herself. She didn't have as many classes with Gohan due to having an emphasis in languages and arts in her study programme, and much to his surprise wasn't interested in fighting at all like her father. He had even managed to hear rumors that she could speak fluent French and already had a prodigious internship with the Satan City arts council.

For a second his thoughts focused on that council since it somehow sounded familiar to him. Was Bulma on it? Or had mentioned it? Now that he thought about it, Bulma never really participated with the rest of the group when it came to making comments about Mr. Satan or his daughter, maybe she knew them?

Gohan's focus was broken, however, when he saw his home on the horizon and sped up, eager to inform his mother and brother about the excellent first day he had.


	2. Bulma I

_Four years earlier, three years after Cell_

Bulma groaned as she exited her jet copter. She had just landed in Satan City and the closest landing spot was a decent walk away from her destination.

After de-capsulizing her vehicle and placing it back in her purse she smoothed down her crimson form-fitting dress and took a deep breath. A meeting had been arranged for her to attend which she wasn't looking the least bit forward to.

It had only been a few steps before the rain began to fall. Bulma again sighed, reaching for her umbrella. She had taken too long to get ready this morning and would not allow anything much less the weather to ruin her image.

As she walked she focused on the sound of her heels clashing against the pavement. What was she doing here? Why had she agreed to this? It was her father's fault for making her join the fine arts council. It was at his insistence that she get involved in the more charitable contributions of the company and then the other spineless members of said council had convinced her to come out to Satan City to meet with Mr. Satan himself. Apparently, the stupid oaf had managed to somehow obtain a very famous Maxwell painting for his private collection and it would more than likely remain isolated in his lavish Satan City estate instead of at a public museum where it belonged.

The entirety of the situation made her sick and she wasn't sure what was worse. That out of all of the people to buy this painting, it had to be him? The guy who took credit for taking down Cell three years ago and had the gall to rename his hometown after himself? What sort of egotistical person does that?

Bulma was so lost in her own thoughts and with the darkness caused by the thick clouds, she failed to realize that someone had been following her. Taking a corner in an alleyway she was suddenly pushed face-forward against a wall, her cheek all of a sudden touching brick.

"Okay lady, put your hands up NOW!", a harsh voice told her as she felt large hands pinning her against the bricks.

"Are you fucking serious?!", she screamed as she raised her hands pressing them against the rough surface. Her umbrella had long been cast aside and the heavy rain was causing her makeup to sting in her eyes.

The assailant lets go of her and snatched her handbag and began to go through it tossing contents aside.

"Oh ho! Looks like I've hit the jackpot!" The crook gleamed having found Bulma's wallet and the cash inside.

Just as Bulma was about to scream more from frustration than actual fear the sound of someone being punched came through the air. Bulma turned to see her assailant with both eyes, a really ugly slimy looking guy, hunched over. Clearly, he had been hit in the crotch.

And there was a girl stood with her arms crossed next to him glaring at him. She managed to quickly bounce back with a proper fighting stance before uppercutting his chin and sending him flying into the wall Bulma had just been close and personal with. His body slumped over, evidentially knocked out.

"Are you all right?", she asked looking up at Bulma.

Bulma blinked having to take a second to take everything in. The person who had come to her rescue wasn't exactly what she would have expected. It was a petite girl who must have only been about thirteen or so. Her dark hair pulled into pigtails beneath her ears which fell down her sides. She had her hood up and was wearing baggy clothes, it wasn't the most flattering look, but having been witness to what this girl could do, Bulma wasn't going to say anything.

"Uh, yeah, I think so….", Bulma said while recomposing herself.

The two gathered her things that had been thrown about in silence.

"So um….", the girl began shyly, not making eye contact, "You're Bulma Briefs right?"

Bulma smiled sheepishly, still thrown off by the recent events, "Yes, I am. And what is your name? I owe you a lot you know.", she said smiling and gesturing towards the unconscious mugger currently snoring.

The girl now appearing equally sheepish took a second before answering, "I'm Videl Satan, Mr. Satan's daughter, I came out to look for you.", she said before looking down at her shoes.

Bulma nearly fell over. Mr. Satan had a daughter?! She had no idea. She had been under the impression that he was a bachelor and in her imagination one of the worst kinds. Not to mention this girl really didn't look anything like him.

Before letting the silence go on for too long, Bulma cleared her throat. "Oh well… it's nice to meet you Videl.", she smiled taking her hand out.

The girl now introduced as Videl looked up at Bulma before smiling and shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too."


	3. Gohan II

_Back to the present._

It's been a few weeks since Gohan started high school. For the most part, it had been smooth sailing, there were a few incidents where he may have appeared a bit weird, but luckily people seemed to be willing to disbelieve the absurd and nothing had come up of it.

The school was planning a field trip to the up and coming art museum in the city, which over the last few years had developed quite well. While Mr. Satan was a controversial figure to Gohan's family and friends, the man had managed to vastly improve the city. Some of his seemingly endless earnings had been invested into solving some of the city's major issues; such as the lack of competent police force, improving transportation infrastructure, and adding culture. In the seven years since Cell, Orange Star City had transformed from being a little city with nothing going on into a sprawling metropolis with its own unique feel and identity.

Landing at his usual spot at the train station without blinking an eye, Gohan came out from behind the building and onto the main street. The crowds and traffic which once intimidated him were becoming commonplace now and he actually had begun to enjoy his walks through the city to school. Expecting a normal morning he began his walk.

"Hey Gohan, wait up!", someone yelled getting closer to him.

He turned to see who it was and immediately felt his pulse quicken. It was Videl Satan.

During the last few weeks, he still didn't have much interaction with her beyond a few shared conversations in classes with others. So he didn't really know her and definitely did not feel at ease with her around. It wasn't that he felt threatened by her necessarily, but more a combination of being intimidated by who she was and her reputation, to feeling self-conscious that she would somehow figure out his secrets. Which was entirely out of the question seeing as she had never seemed at all bothered by him. She had never shown the least amount of interest in him and had never really approached him so why should she now?

She caught up with him smiling, her blue eyes beaming. "Would you mind if we walked to class together?"

Gohan nervously looked away from her and focused on walking forward instead, managing to speak, albeit quietly, "Oh yeah sure Videl, what are you doing down here?"

Another possible cause for his awkwardness around her was probably her appearance, as much as he tried not to think about it. She was just somehow so eye-catching in her own way that he could never fail to notice it.

"Oh, I had to take the train in from West City this morning, I spent the night there visiting a friend.", she said while presenting him with train tickets from the mentioned journey in her hand. "I'm guessing you know all about commuting by train, right?", she asked, her head bending to the side a little as she looked up at him.

Gohan bit his tongue, firstly because she was adorable and secondly because no, he knew absolutely nothing about commuting by train. In fact, he probably had never even been on one. Putting his hand up behind his head he sheepishly replied, " Yeah, I travel by train all the time!"

Videl smiled slightly looking away from him. He could see her long eyelashes from his angle and just as he was beginning to seriously question how she could be so pretty she interrupted his thoughts by saying, "I'm sure you do. From the east right? You mentioned in class that you live near Mt. Paozu? Was that right?"

Gohan chuckled nervously, "Yeah, I come from that direction…." Okay, so maybe she had paid more attention to him that she let on. Or maybe she was just making small talk like a normal person. Whatever it was, he was hoping this walk would end soon.

But that wasn't the case as the pair stopped to wait at a traffic light right across from the school, Gohan tried to take a few steps forward, perhaps subconsciously attempting to end the conversation. Videl must have caught onto this however because she gently grasped the end of his forearm with her hand.

Gohan felt shivers go through his body from her point of contact. His heart rate, which hadn't stopped its pace since she first approached him, was accelerating. He was still in front of her so he couldn't see her and he was torn between turning around and facing her or abruptly fleeing. His cheeks were also heating up, everything was beginning to feel hot really.

"Gohan, I know this is awkward for you, but you should listen to me….", she said, her tone drastically changed from the friendly small talk they just exchanged to one more serious and lower in volume.

The black haired half saiyan had no idea what was going on or where she was going with this. And it was a bit of a shock since she always came off as quite positive and welcoming. Not anywhere near as bubbly as say Erasa, but still…

He was cut off from comparing her to different females he knew when he felt her hold on his arm tightening as she quickly added, "You're using the wrong train station. You should use Orange Park East. Trains to Mt. Paozu only go through there. I don't think anyone has noticed, but just in case…."

Then the light changed and Videl let go of Gohan's arm just as quickly as she had grabbed it before strolling out onto the road as if nothing had happened. She got a few paces in front of him before turning around, her blue eyes peering up at him.

"Well come on now! We have to get to class!", she beamed her tone back to the previous one. She also winked and pointed towards the school, before picking up the pace and heading towards the door.

Still feeling the rush of her contact Gohan took a few seconds before dashing after her, knowing that she was right.

Seemingly endless questions began to invade his mind. What the hell just happened? How did she know that he had been lying about using the trains? And why did she just help him? And why did she seem so accepting of it all?


	4. Videl I

Apologies, this chapter had to be deleted and posted again due to some line breaks not coming through.

* * *

Quiet. Awkwardly quiet. Far too quiet. That was how Videl would describe the current situation. It was only a few hours prior did she manage to not only meet but save Bulma Briefs from some low-life minor thief and now she was reduced to sitting outside her father's office. Waiting.

Twiddling her thumbs, Videl looked up at the clock which she had many times before to see that according to the hands that maybe 10 seconds had passed by. What was the holdup? Bulma had come to speak to her father about his recently purchased painting and request if he would be all right with it being displayed in museums and Videl was utterly positive that her father should not have had a problem with saying yes. After all, he had bought the painting to keep it out of the hands of other crooked collectors. Believe it or not, Mr. Satan actually took pleasure in art and before his fame had so vastly intensified he used to take Videl to museums pretty frequently.

Becoming even more nervous by the minute, Videl began to pace back and forth in front of the door to her father's study. This meeting should not have taken this long and while it was silly for her to admit, she was really hoping that her father and Bulma Briefs would get along. While Mr. Satan did have some seriously famous friends, Videl really didn't care about any of them. But Bulma Briefs was an entirely different story! Bulma had a major influence on science and technology and she was a woman with a famous father! There were so many things Videl longed to learn or even just discuss with Bulma.

The door finally opened and the two occupants came out.

"Well, that all went much more smoothly than I anticipated.", Bulma said with a smile.

Mr. Satan simply nodded and noticed Videl. "Oh, Videl, there's something you should know...", he started, looking over at Bulma and back at her.

Bulma also looked down at Videl smiling gently.

Videl's heart rate skyrocketed. Was it about how she intervened with those criminals earlier? Her father hated it when she got involved in a conflict. He was annoyingly overprotective of her even though he was well aware that she could easily defend herself.

"If you want, Bulma has offered to give you a sort of...mentorship.", Mr. Satan said sheepishly. Clearly, he was still digesting the idea. Whenever it came to Videl being exposed to something new, he was always extremely slow to coming round to it.

Bulma perked up. "Yeah, you really helped me out there earlier kiddo. And your father has mentioned to me some of your interests and I think we have some in common. You could come visit me in West City sometimes, or I would come here, and I think you'd learn a lot."

Videl took a second to let it sink in. A mentorship with Bulma Briefs? And her father completely allowed it?

Letting out a squeal not out of character for a thirteen-year-old, Videl jumped up out of joy, before realizing her actions and then attempting, badly, to calm down.

Letting the feelings of nervousness and being self-conscious stand aside, she said, quietly, "Yes, I accept."

* * *

Looking in the mirror Videl nearly fell over from shock. The girl looking back at her wasn't her. That girl was wearing a dress, something that Videl would _never_ be considering wearing. Just the idea of it always made her skin crawl.

So how could it be possible that this outfit didn't? Videl looked down at the hem of the dress in amazement as she let her fingers trail against it. She had always assumed she just wasn't meant to look, well, pretty, and that being that way just wasn't for her. Since her mother had passed away before Videl could remember, no one had ever tried to introduce these sorts of things to her. Well, minus Erasa, but she had always pushed away from it, maybe more from fear that she would be willing to admit.

"Hey, I'm coming in!", a loud excited voice boomed as the curtain of the fitting room was pulled back, revealing none other than Bulma Briefs.

It had been a few months since their mentorship began and while the first few meetings had been a little on the awkward side, both women were putting down their guards and finally getting to know one another.

Bulma grinned with joy, "Oh look at you! I knew this would work!" The blue haired woman began to circle her thirteen-year-old protégé. "I knew this color would be perfect for you!"

Videl suddenly felt very warm under Bulma's scrutiny. She had accidentally let it slip or perhaps had even been coerced into revealing that she never had a clue when it came to picking out her outfits. Bulma was of course more than willing to help. Bulma didn't have a problem with the way Videl dressed, but she could see that Videl just needed some encouragement and was happy to provide it. Plus it gave her the added bonus of getting to participate in more feminine related activities which her own male-dominated family didn't allow. Bulma's mission was to show Videl her own natural beauty without having to sacrifice the less feminine aspects of her personality.

Sensing one of her long ponytails being held Videl looked up to see Bulma observing her.

"Videl...do you prefer styling your hair like that?"

* * *

The classroom was silent except for the sounds of scribbling pencils on paper. Videl had just set her pencil down and was relieved to be finished. It was the first maths exam of the year and she had spent many nights preparing for it.

Pushing her paper to the front of her desk she looked around to see how everyone else was doing. Everyone was still busy with their exams except for a boy to her far right. Son Gohan.

Their eyes met for a second before Gohan looked away in the opposite direction. A smile came to Videl's face and her shoulders shook slightly as she held in a laugh. The events of that morning at the train station came to her mind.

Still grinning she bit her lip so she wouldn't actually laugh. The look on his face as she told him he was using the wrong train station had been priceless. He really was clueless and it was adorable.

Finally recomposed she looked back over at him and as if completely by coincidence he looked back at her direction as well. This time Videl just lost it and giggled, causing him to look down in mortification and Erasa between them to look up at her.

Erasa narrowed her eyes and gave Videl a look that said, "What is wrong with you?" and went back to her exam.

Soon enough though everyone was finished and the classroom filled with chatter. Videl was rearranging her supplies into her bag and was eager to leave for the day before overhearing an interesting conversation.

"So, have you guys heard more about this Satan City crime fighter?!", Erasa exclaimed. The blonde had moved closer to Gohan's desk along with Sharpener.

Videl's ears were burning. She didn't move but did lean a bit in their direction to hear better.

"Yeah, I've heard that he's some short shrimpy kind of guy. I bet he's a total weirdo.", Sharpener said cooly.

Erasa gasped, "No way, I doubt he's shrimpy! Gohan, have you heard of this guy?"

Videl's hands grasped her desk as she bit her tongue and her heart rate accelerated as she became nervous.

"Uh, yeah, I have heard of him.", Gohan said shyly and feeling pretty awkward remembering his own encounter with the mysterious figure known as the Satan City crimefighter on his first day of classes. While he had never actually encountered that guy ever again, more and more news reports had come out about him. He was indeed mysterious and would appear almost at random to help with the police. There was never any actual reported footage of him taken only still photographs and bad ones at that. The crimefighter never participated in interviews and he had become a major mystery within Satan City.

"Well, do you think he's shrimpy? I've heard that he's pretty short." Sharpener questioned blatantly.

Gohan pondered a minute before answering, deciding that he shouldn't mention having actually encountered the crimefighter for a split second before. "Yeah, I would say so. Maybe it's because he wears that weird black outfit so it makes him look even shorter, but he's definitely not a big guy."

Both Erasa and Sharpener laughed at Gohan calling the crimefighter weird and even Gohan chuckled along as well.

Videl quickly cleared her throat causing all three to look towards her. "I think the Satan City crimefighter sounds like an idiot and people should ignore...", she hesitated for a second looking uncomfortable her eyes narrowing, "...him."

"Aw, lighten up Videl, he obviously has good intentions.", Erasa said warmly. Erasa was always too positive about people.

"Well, it doesn't matter what..." Videl sighed as though something was bothering her, " _his_ intentions are, it isn't his job to deal with this sort of thing and the police should be able to handle it on their own." She concluded before going back to her bookbag. She clearly did not seem impressed by this crimefighter in the least. Her chest was still tight as she was still nervous.

Sharpener laughed, "Is someone annoyed that their father's investment isn't working out?"

Videl scowled at him, "My Dad's investment in the police force has nothing to do with the fact that they should be able to keep Satan City safe on their own." God, she hated Sharpener sometimes, unlike Erasa he wasn't entirely positive and naive but he was cynical and entirely obsessed with money.

Sharpener just continued to laugh and Gohan and Erasa looked at one another.

Erasa just shook her head at her other friends, "Ignore them Gohan, they're always at each other's throats like this. Do you think the Satan City Crimefighter should give up? I don't!"

Videl looked at Gohan. On the inside, she was a total mess as her nerves were, without doubt, eating at her, but luckily she had become great at acting and still appeared perfectly calm. She was however genuinely curious what his opinion of the Satan City crime fighter was. As usual, Gohan glanced at Videl for only a second before looking away and avoiding her gaze. The two of them really didn't know one another and he clearly wasn't comfortable around her. She didn't have time to speculate why it was taking so long for him to warm up to her before he answered.

"I think Videl is right and it should be left to the police. It's really dangerous for someone without proper training." Gohan said quietly and pragmatically before turning to his own book bag obviously not wanting to get any more involved in this.

Videl smiled as the uncomfortable feeling departed and her heart rate finally settled down. Not wanting to appear smug though, she quickly threw her bag over her shoulder, "Yeah see Erasa, no one likes the", she paused to make air-quotes with her fingers, "Satan City Crimefighter. Not to mention that name is stupid and I don't like her..." Videl stopped realizing her mistake before taking a breath, " _his_ outfit."

Rushing out of that classroom as fast as possible without looking bizarre, Videl only had one thought going through her mind, "Shit, shit, shit!" She did not want to see her classmates reactions to her slip-up or make it any worse.


	5. Gohan III

Not long after Videl rushed out of the classroom did everyone else. Gohan had just landed by the front door of the house only to be met with his mother hurrying him upstairs.

"Krillin, Bulma, and Trunks are coming over for dinner, you need to go do your homework now!", she instructed him quickly.

Gohan did as she asked but was not looking forward to having dinner guests. Normally he would not have been at all bothered, but he knew that Krillin would probably tease him about girls and Bulma would find it all hilarious. Unfortunately for him, his homework was completed quickly and the three arrived shortly.

"So Gohan, I've heard you started attending high school…", Krillin lead on while helping himself to some food.

Bulma's eyes widened as she was taking a sip of wine and nearly choked on it, clearing her throat she looked back and forth between Gohan and ChiChi, "What? Going to high school…? Is this true?"

"Yes, I finally decided to enroll Gohan in Orange Star High, he's been going since September.", ChiChi beamed proudly, helping herself to some food.

Gohan decided to do what he usually did in these situations and avoiding speaking and continued to eat.

"Yeah! Brother goes to school every day now!", Goten exclaimed between mouthfuls. Goten was very excited that Trunks had come over and the two were absolutely giddy. Gohan envied them for this.

Bulma's brow was still furrowed. "Orange Star did you say…", she looked very suspicious.

"Yes Bulma, Orange Star, you know that I've been wanting him to go there for years, even if you don't agree." ChiChi snapped.

Hearing this, Gohan made a connection. Now that he was actually thinking about it, in the past whenever his mother had mentioned in the company of others that he should probably start school and suggested Orange Star, due to its reputation being the best in their area, Bulma had always been negative towards the idea. Bulma had always said that maybe Gohan wasn't meant for a traditional school environment. Thinking about it now her earlier statements kind of stung. Was he really _that_ weird? No wonder he always felt so awkward and shy around his new classmates. Would it ever be possible for him to fit in?

"It's not that I don't agree!" Bulma quickly responded glancing at Gohan for a second before making eye contact with ChiChi, she was one of the few that successfully could without cowering down. "I just always assumed you didn't like Mr. Satan, you know that he's heavily involved in Satan City."

ChiChi shrugged, "I'm caring less and less about Mr. Satan now and Gohan's education is what is most important."

"Yeah, I suppose so…", Bulma said as she twirled her wine glass pondering.

"Do you get to see Videl Satan Gohan?", Krillin asked grinning ear-to-ear. He was so smug.

Gohan just simply nodded and kept eating. Maybe if he just didn't say anything this time Krillin would give up quickly. It was weird when they would talk about Videl before but now that he kind of knew her…

"Vi—!", Trunks suddenly exclaimed mid-chew before taking a big gulp, "Videl? Oh, I kn—", he was suddenly cut off by Bulma's hand over his mouth.

"Trunks, what have I said about speaking while eating!", Bulma scolded him before letting go and facing Krillin."Let's talk about something else, I see Mr. Satan everywhere these days, I don't want to talk about his daughter."

Still eating, Gohan inwardly took a sigh of relief.

* * *

It was two days later and Gohan was on his way back home walking towards the train station. The weather was getting colder and the days shorter as the sun was already setting. All that could be heard was the crunch of leaves beneath his feet as he walked.

The wind was picking up and nipping at his skin. He thought about how he really needed to start wearing a coat as he dug his hands into his pockets.

Out of nowhere, he heard a scream, it was a loud shrill one, most likely coming from a woman. Gohan didn't think twice before running in the direction that it had come from.

"HELP!", came from the woman. Gohan found her in an alleyway, it was a middle-aged woman who was clearly wealthy, but currently, she looked a mess. She appeared to have been assaulted and her she was clutching at her neck.

"He..", gasping for air from her shock, "He took everything, my jewelry, my bag…" she managed to get out in between breaths.

"It's okay, here just sit.", Gohan said calmly as he directed her to a bench. More people had begun to pass by offering to call the police and help.

"Do you know which direction he went in?", Gohan asked his voice resonating with how serious he felt. This woman didn't deserve this. He was livid.

The woman weakly pointed in the direction and Gohan ran. Once he was out of eyeshot he really amped up his speed and the streets began to mesh together.

This guy seriously couldn't have gotten far. What sort of pathetic low life would strike against the innocent like that?

Seeing a dead end approaching Gohan began to feel frustrated. Where was this guy? It wasn't until he got closer that he realized that there was someone on the ground.

Gohan's eyes widened as he stepped in front of the person lying on the ground. It was the thief, definitely, because the woman's belongings were laid neatly next to him. The man was restrained by rope, his arms behind him. There was even duct tape around his mouth preventing him from speaking as he made muttering noises attempting to speak. He wiggled around tirelessly, but he wasn't breaking free anytime soon.

"The police are coming, you should go you know.",someone spoke behind Gohan, snapping him out of his observation.

He turned and somehow was even more surprised. It was a woman.

She stood wearing a black skin-tight catsuit type of outfit with a long dark blue cape behind it. Long hair cascaded beneath her shoulders and only her mouth was visible the rest of her face covered by a mask the same color as her cape.

"Who are you?", Gohan asked more curious than he ever had been. His senses on full alert now as he was attempting to judge her energy, which he couldn't really detect. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't exceptionally strong, at least at the moment.

The woman grinned slightly before turning around. "It doesn't matter who I am, but I must be going now. Don't follow me."

He wasn't going to listen to her and was definitely intending to follow her, but before he knew it there was thick smoke and a lot of it. It was colored a dark purple and was spreading everywhere making it impossible to see.

A few seconds later the smoke had cleared but the mysterious woman had vanished.


	6. Bulma II

Bulma's heart was racing as she closed the door behind her. She had just put Trunks to bed. They had only arrived home from having dinner with the Son family just before that.

How could ChiChi have not told her that Gohan had started going to Orange Star? It wasn't that she didn't believe Gohan wasn't capable of having a normal high school experience, it was just that she wasn't sure that Videl mixing in would be such a great idea. Bulma had grown very attached to Videl and while she had shared many secrets with her, the actual truth about Mr. Satan and Cell wasn't one of them.

Bulma's phone began buzzing in her pocket instantly pulling her out of her thoughts, but only briefly. Videl Satan's name flashed on the screen. SIghing at the coincident she answered.

"Hello?", Bulma said inquisitively, it really wasn't like Videl to call. She usually only texted and definitely not this late at night. Maybe Videl really had figured everything out and the whole jig was up.

"Hey Bulma, we have a problem regarding Julia. Could I come over tomorrow?"

Bulma blinked. Well, that was much better than she anticipated. "Oh really? Yeah of course.", she said relieved.

"Okay great, I'll come over after school, I'll just get the train."

Maybe that was it and Bulma would get away home free without any questions from Videl. While she usually adored Videl's drive and the lengths she would go to for answers, Bulma did not want to be on the receiving end of it.

"Oh yeah Bulma, there's one more thing, I keep forgetting to mention it to you."

Bulma held her breath, "What?"

"Your godson or whatever he is is in my class now. Gohan, right?"

Bulma could hear Videl's cheeky smirk on the other end. She sighed out of defeat. "Yeah, you're the second person to tell me that today you know… just come over tomorrow."

And with that Bulma hung up.

At six o'clock precisely Bulma was greeted by Videl's presence. Everyone in capsule corporation was familiar with the teenage girl's visits as they had been a regular occurrence for a number of years now.

"Okay, Bulma, first thing's first - Julia.", Videl stated as soon as she came into the room still wearing her blazer and book bag. She was quick to detach the watch on her wrist and tossed it across to Bulma.

The blue haired scientist barely had a second to react before catching it.

"What about it?", she asked while inspecting the object in question. Everything appeared to be in order, the glass of the watch's face still pristine and there were no scratches or dents.

Videl looked sheepish for a second as she loosened the tie of her school uniform and Bulma could've sworn there was a trace of a blush.

"I want to move away from the whole gender neutral thing..", Videl said breaking eye contact.

Bulma might have been nervous about this meeting but all of that apprehension was gone the minute she heard those words come out of Videl's mouth. And they were replaced with laughter, lots of it.

She was laughing so hard that she was struggling to stand up straight but managed to speak, "You..you insisted on it!"

At this point Videl was definitely not facing Bulma, "Well, I changed my mind.."

Bulma was still laughing, hard. "Did the media get to you? The Satan City crime fighter being dubbed a man bother you?", she said in between the laughs that were still coming on strong.

Videl's brow twitched. When the proposition of Bulma creating her a disguise to secretly take down thugs had arisen, it was at her insistence that the costume be made gender neutral to keep her identity hidden. The device Bulma invented had been named Julia for no real reason other than to be a random code name.

Bulma finally calmed down. While she did find the entire situation hilarious she had actually purposely made Videl's requested androgynous costume unflattering. Given the amount of fashion advice Bulma had passed onto Videl, she really should've known better, but maybe her self-declared mission of making Satan City's streets safer had clouded her judgment.

Knowing it was better to accept that Videl was actually willing to be more feminine rather than questioning why Bulma finally stopped laughing and clapped her hands together. "Okay, let's get to work on redesigning Julia then!"

After what felt like hours of comparing fabric switches and deciding on the best cape length, the two decided to call it a night. They were tidying up the workspace when Videl broke the silence.

"About Gohan….", she said, knowing Bulma may be uncomfortable.

And she was definitely uncomfortable. While Bulma didn't want to hurt Videl she also didn't want to hurt Gohan either. "Yeah, what about him?", Bulma asked, now she was the one avoiding eye contact.

"He's capable of more than he seems...right? Like….", Videl hesitated obviously choosing her words carefully, "He's in league with your husband and stuff, right…?"

Bulma sighed. Just as she didn't question Videl as to why she wanted a better costume. Videl obviously knew what subjects to avoid. Videl had met Bulma's family and had seen a taste of what they were capable of, but the two ladies' relationship had been built on other things and conversation on other topics.

That was probably why Bulma had insisted to keep Videl and Gohan, or really those friends separate. She actually enjoyed Videl's company and that their friendship wasn't based on catastrophic world-saving experiences. Videl had become the little sister Bulma never had.

Knowing there wasn't a point to being stubborn Bulma lamented, "Yes, he is."

The two were silent.

"Well, I won't bother him, I know you wouldn't want that.", Videl said breaking the silence. "But, you should know, he was claiming to use the wrong train station…. I saw him at Satan City Central the other morning, actually it was the morning after I had stayed here last."

Bulma's stern expression changed into one of curiousness, "Oh really? He takes the train?"

"No, I don't think so… I'm guessing he um…" Videl stopped knowing that acknowledging this sort of stuff made Bulma uncomfortable and hell, it made her uneasy since she didn't understand anything about it, "He can do that flying thing, right? Anyway, trains from Mt. Paozu come from Orange Star East, so I told him to use that train station instead... "

Bulma simply leaned back in her chair, pondering as she stared upwards at the ceiling. "Videl, we have spoken many times since then, why didn't you tell me about Gohan before?"

"Because it wasn't until this week that I realized who he was! At the time of that train station incident I thought he was just lying about where he's from, making himself seem edgier or something, teenagers are always doing that. Paper in my class lied that his mother was an ex-army officer and Marker…" she began to go on and on, Videl was a teenage girl after all.

Bulma threw her hands up not wanting to listen to these high school type stories, "Videl, Videl, okay I get it! Now, focus, how did you figure out Gohan then?", Bulma really was curious, Videl had absolutely fantastic deductive reasoning skills.

"Well… I don't have many classes with him since he's in the science-based curriculum..", Videl began, "But I know that appeared earlier this week in gym class they were playing baseball and he supposedly jumped twenty feet in the air….Erasa told me"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Great."

"But….I think people might have been exaggerating or didn't believe what they saw…That's when I finally made the connection and realized he was, you know, with them. Otherwise, I would have told you sooner." Videl's voice was getting quieter and more serious, "There is something you should know though.."

Really? There was something else that Bulma needed to know? Hadn't there been enough bombshells of knowledge dropped on her lately. Still leaning back in her chair she put her hands up to her forehead as though she had a headache. "Oh god, what is it?"

"He saw me, wearing Julia, on his first day, Gohan did. I'm sorry, I didn't realize who he was at the time, it was before school, and I just told him to get out of the way. It was when I took care of those low lives at Satan City bank.", Videl said looking as though she had known this a while and was finally getting it off her chest.

Bulma shut her eyes, this wasn't good or bad but could be an issue if Videl really wanted to keep her identity serious. "Well, I designed the suit to um...keep your energy shielded per se, so he won't be able to sense that it's you."

Videl blinked for a second, "He can sense me?", she asked alarmed.

Bulma's eye twitched. Oh god, this was the sort of stuff she had wanted to avoid bringing into her relationship with Videl. She was a friggin' tech genius and she didn't even have a great understanding of how the whole energy-sensing situation worked.

Making an awkward face Bulma sat up in her chair and faced Videl, "I think he can sort of sense how strong people are? I'm really not sure, but you don't need to worry about it. Gohan's really smart but if you haven't noticed he can be…", Bulma paused attempting to think of how to phrase Gohan's specific nature.

"Naive?", Videl responded bluntly.

"Yes, naive, that's exactly it. He's not you and suspicious of people.", Bulma said smirking, she loved to tease Videl.

"Hey!", Videl said in response.

The awkwardness of their conversation had finally lifted and the rest of their night was spent laughing and messing with one another.


	7. Gohan IV

As Gohan was flying to West City the odor of the smoke bomb left behind by that mysterious woman still lingered in his nostrils. At least he had concluded that it was a smoke bomb, there was no other explanation. Perhaps she was some sort of witch with supernatural smoke powers… No, that couldn't be it. It had been years before he had felt this on edge. Was the world again in danger? 

His mind kept racing back to one image in particular. It was the moment he had first laid eyes on her as her cape and hair flowed behind her in perfect rhythm with the wind. Something about that image hypnotized him. 

But Gohan didn't have too long to ponder over what powers that weird lady did or didn't have or how she looked before Capsule Corp came into view. Powering down he ran to the Briefs' private quarters, not stopping for any of the staff. 

Even though he had known Bulma for most of his life, he had only been to her home a few times. The scale and size of it felt artificial to him. Seeing the door to her personal lab was shut and without thinking, he began to pound on the door hard. 

"Bulma open up! It's really important that I speak to you, NOW!" he yelled, his fist leaving noticeable dents on the door. 

"Okay okay! I'll be there in a second!", Bulma's voice radiated from inside. 

When the door opened Gohan was quick to step inside not even seeing if Bulma would let him. 

"What is wrong?", Bulma asked, clearly annoyed as she inspected the door. Could nothing be kept nice around here? 

Gohan noticed that he was gasping for air. Had he really rushed over here that quickly? Now that he actually thought about it, thinking being something he hadn't been doing all that clear up until this point, everything did seem like quite a rush. 

"There's some weird crimefighter-lady-person in Satan City and I don't know who she is or who she wants, but I can't sense her energy and I don't know who to go to about it!", He said all in one breath very quickly. 

"...What?" Bulma asked arching an eyebrow. Gohan assumed that this was due to him speaking so haphazardly. 

He then slowed down and explained the entirety of the situation. 

"So, there's a new crimefighter in Satan City? I've heard of the other one, and yeah you're right he did look like a weird short man." Bulma then started to giggle, obviously amused. 

But how could she be so amused? This crime fighter woman was a serious problem! 

"Bulma this isn't a laughing matter! What do I do? Should I tell Vegeta and the others?" Gohan was annoyed, why wasn't Bulma taking this more seriously? 

Right as Bulma was about to respond to Gohan, they were interrupted by a knock on the now dented door.

"Miss Bulma, I have some letters for you here." an attendant said. 

Bulma held up one of her fingers and mouthed "one minute" at Gohan before going and answering the door. A capsule corp worker handed Bulma some documents before peering at Gohan. 

"Oh Miss Bulma, I didn't know you had another mentee over today! Well, I'll be going then!" the woman said cheerfully before leaving. 

"Another mentee?" Gohan asked looking at Bulma. Bulma was a mentor? 

Bulma casually waved her hand as she flipped through the documents, "I don't know what she's talking about, she's weird." She mused as her eyes scanned the papers.

Massaging his temples Gohan briefly looked upon Bulma's desk. There were some blueprints being displayed. He squinted his eyes trying to make out what was on them. Some sort of watch maybe? It was kind of feminine looking…

Bulma's phone on the table behind him suddenly began buzzing and it didn't stop.

"Sorry let me get that…" she said as she took it and Gohan swore that she saw a grin come on her face as she looked at who was calling. "Oh no one important, they can wait." She then clicked the side button disabling the vibration. 

Gohan suddenly remembered why he was there.

"Bulma what are we going to do about the Satan City crime fighter?!" This was important! He HAD to figure out what to do about her. 

The female scientist set down the documents on her desk and looked up at Gohan shrugging, "I don't think you need to do anything. She obviously isn't harming others and is actually assisting them right?"

"Well yeah…. But where is she getting these weapons?" 

"I would hardly call some smoke bombs weapons Gohan… Speaking of which, how did the smoke look? Was it thin or totally opaque?" her eyes gleamed with curiosity. 

"Uh, pretty opaque I guess…." Gohan answered. Why on earth would Bulma care so much? "The smell is awful, I'm paranoid it's lingered on my clothes…" he said as he raised the collar of his school shirt to his nose. 

"Yeah, that's the trouble with colored smoke; it always has that sulfur smell…." Bulma said as she looked to be in thought before snapping out of it. "As for this crime fighter girl or whatever, I think you should let her be. Unless she begins to start any trouble that is, then come to me and we will decide. But I would leave Vegeta and Krillin and them out of it honestly…."

Gohan sighed. Bulma was right, he was simply overreacting. Maybe she would never come up again...

Gohan couldn't have been more wrong, however. Over the next few days, reports began circulating in the news. All of them had the same basic characteristics in common. There were always petty wrongdoers involved that would target the innocent. Then there would be either a flash of bright light or densely colored smoke and what was left behind would be the bad guys conveniently tied up unconscious. Photos of a caped feminine figure ran in the tabloids. One in particular taken from a news helicopter had become renown. It showed this mysterious figure standing proudly on top of a soaring skyscraper, her stance poised and graceful. Her costume was so dark she almost appeared as a silhouette.

It was as if everyone forgot about the old Satan City Crimefighter and began anew with this new hero, dubbed Satan City Heroine. Fan websites arose like weeds and her silhouette image was everywhere including t-shirts and other merchandise. It was quickly becoming the symbol for Satan City.

And Son Gohan was totally into it, even if he wouldn't admit it. Not so much the merchandise, but he had a growing collection of newspaper and magazine clippings featuring the heroine in a box under his bed. As well as developing a habit of checking all of the news websites on his phone whenever he had the chance.

He wasn't going to give up until he could figure out who she was. He had to know.

Several days later Gohan's class at Orange Star was attending a field trip to the Satan City Art Museum. The students needed to pick a work of art and complete a small essay about it. As result students were scattered all over attempting to find a piece worth writing about. The museum was packed with people and the crowds were quite excessive.

No one noticed that the security guards on duty that morning had been giving one another secret hand signals.

Gohan wasn't the biggest fan of crowds and was presently sat a bench in front of a large painting which was contained in its own small gallery, cut off from the rest of the museum. He was isolated in the room. A countryside scene was the subject of the piece and it strongly reminded him of home. There were lots of greenery and sunlight depicted and the artist had managed to capture the characteristics of nature.

Flipping his pen in between his fingers Gohan sat staring at the painting. His entire academic career had avoided art, not entirely by choice, but he was ill-prepared to write about it. Where was he going to begin?

Meanwhile, a pair of guards at the front nodded to one another. Everything was going to plan. One of them got on his walkie-talkie to communicate with the others.

"Code red can go ahead."

"Hi, Gohan…"

He looked up. It was Videl. How was she always sneaking up on him? Her back was facing him, which was a mix of a relief and let down for him. He was glad to not see her face but then really wanted to at the same time. He shook his head at how little his wants made sense.

"Oh, this one is really nice, isn't it?" She asked innocently. Instantly Gohan felt even more guilty for those mixed feelings.

"Y-yeah…it is." He responded stammering a bit. Now the mixed feelings were changing into that specific nervous feeling she always managed to coax in him.. She was stood closer to the painting that he was sat, still having her back to him. His eyes lingered on her hair for a moment, the upper half had been pulled up into a low ponytail and it all flowed down onto the small of her back right where her shirt was tucked in and her skirt began. There was something oddly familiar about the color or the length maybe? He wasn't quite sure. 

Videl then sat beside him gently clutching her notebook in her petite hands as she admired the painting.

Gohan observed her shining blue eyes as they followed the painter's brushstrokes.

"Are you going to write your essay about this one?" She asked still admiring the painting. 

"Uh, I'm not sure. I don't really know a thing about art…" He tipped his head as he said this. 

Videl chuckled a little. "Well, I could give you some background information about the artist if you want…?" She asked timidly, not wanting to come off as a know-it-all. It was a reflex, Erasa would have definitely called her one had she been present.

"Yeah, sure! " Gohan said completely unaware of Videl's humbleness as he prepared his pen and paper. He was well-aware that Videl was in the humanities-based curriculum and Erasa had proudly informed him that she would always ace her art history tests. He was going to embrace the luck that fell into his lap.

Having received the signal from all ends, the man in the security office of the museum grinned. He swiftly stood up from his chair and went into the office of the museum director, without knocking.

"Excuse me?" the director, an older man with white hair and round glasses asked clearly annoyed. "What do you want, you can't just barge in here?"

Pulling out a fully loaded gun and aiming it directly at the director's face the man smirked.

"Oh yes, I can. When I count to ten, you're going to set the alarms off."

Both Gohan and Videl were giggling. Gohan had finally managed to let his guard around Videl as she told him about the artist of this painting. She really knew her stuff and was obviously interested in it as her enthusiasm was in her words.

"Yeah, he and Le Pomme didn't get along and they purposely sabotaged one another in their art, I can show you…" Videl had really told him more than he needed to know about the artist but she was so passionate about it the conversation hadn't ended.

She was currently digging in her bag to pull out her tablet and show Gohan what she was referring to only to be jarred by the outcry of alarms which caused both students to put their hands up to their ears as they jumped from complete surprise. The sound was deafening. The once pristine white walls of the gallery transformed as alternating intense red and white flashes of light bounced off the walls from the alarm. The transition created a spine-chilling atmosphere. 

"OKAY EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR! THE RED SHARK GANG HAS TAKEN OVER THIS MUSEUM DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GET DOWN. WE HAVE TAKEN DIRECTOR TOMOEDA HOSTAGE AND WE WILL HURT HIM IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY" A loud voice echoed over loudspeakers. 

Tensing up Gohan was conflicted. Videl was right there next to him and his other classmates and teachers couldn't be far behind. He had to pretend to be normal, but he couldn't just stand by, could he? This would be a great time for that heroine woman to appear…. 

Deciding to take a step back and putting his faith in the police Gohan slowly got off the bench and kneeled onto the floor. It was just too much of a risk and surely things would be okay this time. Only Videl didn't follow suit. Instead, bizarrely she ran out of the room. 

'What the hell was she doing? Is she trying to get hurt?' Gohan thought as he sighed in resignation, he would have to step in now. 

He caught up with her quickly, as she was hiding behind a corner, her back to the wall as she used it for cover. 

"Videl, what are you doing?!" he asked frustrated and unable to keep his voice down. She might have been Mr. Satan's daughter and maybe that gave her some false sense of authority, but this was beyond reckless. 

Surprised at seeing him up and around and at his tone her eyes widened for a moment as she stared at him before going back into position. "I'm...I'm…" she was unable to form a sentence. 

Gohan frowned. Maybe she was in shock? Yeah, that must be it. She was just an innocent teenage girl after all. Joining her on the wall he took her hand. 

"Look it'll be okay…" He thought he would comfort her as he was convinced she was acting out of panic.

Surprising him she snatched her hand from him almost viciously before turning away from him. She quickly saw an opening and ran for it. Leaving him behind. 

Clenching his teeth together Gohan scowled before chasing after her. This wing of the museum had so many winding hallways and the security lockdown made the layout all the more confusing. Luckily he could sense that the perpetrators that had taken the museum over weren't really around. Where was Videl? 

Gohan stopped making a major realization. Where was Videl? Why couldn't he sense her energy? He was actively looking for it and it wasn't there. 

There was no time for him to expand on those thoughts as several screams reverberated through the walls and he began running again. What he found was a familiar scene. 

Members of the red shark gang that had been patrolling were unconscious and tied up. He slowed down.

'The Satan City Heroine….' Gohan thought as he focused and scanned the building again checking up on everyone. The evil ki's were slowly being taken down as if with one hit. Now was his chance to find her and unmask her! This was it if only he could focus on her ki. Where was it? 

All of a sudden a weird smell hit Gohan's senses. It wasn't the same as the smoke bomb he could still not so fondly remember, but it was just as potent. Was it floral? Lavender-like almost? 

Suddenly Gohan's eyes felt heavy and he was struggling to stand. He collapsed onto the floor and his arms were barely holding himself up. 

"What….what is happening?" He said to himself before a deep sleep took over.


	8. Videl II

_Hello everyone that is still reading -_

 _Thanks so much for hanging in there during those awkward first few chapters! This is now developed into the story I imagined writing so many months ago and I can proudly admit that this is my longest (and hopefully best), chapter yet! Thanks so much to SaltyCandy for the constant support and to Divineffej for proofreading! Also to those I annoyingly contacted for proofreading, I'm sorry, I just wanted to roll out this chapter asap!_

Role Reversal Chapter 8 Videl II

Moving swiftly through the night the vigilante now known as the Satan City Heroine approached the back gate of the Satan estate. Squinting her eyes as she clenched her grappling gun, she aimed for the top of the iron gate. With one click the hook ejected and latched on; with a second click she was propelled to the top. Gracefully she hopped down, as though she had done this many times, and made her way to the main house.

Slinking her way up to a specific window like a gymnast, she didn't make a sound. The lock on this particular window looked to be in perfect working order but the disguised figure pried it open with ease. Carefully, she stepped into the room and quickly closed the window behind her.

The sensation of her heels sinking into the familiar carpet relaxed her. Putting her gloved fingers on the hidden latch on her helmet, it released and she lifted it up over her head. Revealing a flushed Videl Satan underneath. The contact of fresh air against her face felt exhilarating.

Videl couldn't believe it. She had just debuted this new suit and while, for the most part, it was a brilliant success, she just happened to run into _him_? Did he sense her or whatever Bulma had been on about? She visibly recoiled at the idea of that, feeling as though it was a major invasion of privacy if he really was capable of such things. It was far too strange of a coincidence that he had been there though…

Reaching for her phone she rang Bulma. She had to tell her and it had to be now. With each ring, her chest tightened more. What if Gohan figured it out? He might have been a bit clueless at times but he wasn't stupid.

The call went to voicemail. Frustrated Videl tried again. And then once more. Still unanswered.

Throwing her phone on her bed Videl conceded. Bulma must have been busy. She paced back and forth, still worked up from the previous events.

Besides Gohan though, everything else went smoothly. The new suit, the smoke bomb, and even some of the weirder gadgets Bulma had managed to pull together. One, in particular, were these grenade-like things that exploded into ropes that ensnared around their target. All of that worked flawlessly.

Videl grinned widely to herself as she remembered the look on that crook's face as she had managed to catch up to him! It was priceless! Not to mention she was able to knock him out cold with just one tap on the neck!

Focusing on the positive moments of the night Videl managed to calm down enough to put the helmet she discarded back on. She mused to herself that it was really stupid that the entirety of the costume had to be worn before dematerializing it. Bulma had warned her over and over that if she were to leave the helmet off it would not disappear with the rest of the suit when she wanted to change back. Pressing the all-important button, a whoosh sound followed and the Satan City Heroine's outfit disappeared; leaving just an ordinary Videl in school clothes.

Collapsing onto her bed face side up, she relaxed. Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe Gohan wouldn't say anything to anyone. He had already seen her in the previous costume and hadn't mentioned it to Erasa and Sharpener. Even when they had all been discussing it.

..but why hadn't he? It struck Videl as extremely strange that Gohan didn't even come close to mentioning his run-in with her other self. Videl did muse to herself that Gohan apparently had secrets of his own to keep as he was capable of more than he appeared. Maybe he was just as self conscious as she was? ...probably not though.

And then... She gulped… there was their previous encounter. How he turned that corner intent on stopping that petty thief. She didn't know what it was but he seemed so much taller and more….masculine. Something about it had made her feel strange and it was a feeling she had never had before.

Luckily for her though she wouldn't have to wonder much longer as her phone went off. Jumping up she grabbed it and felt some relief. It was Bulma.

"Bulma! I have so much to tell you!"

A few days later Videl found herself walking around the art museum. It suddenly dawned on her that she was alone. It wasn't a complete surprise that she had managed to separate herself from the group as she knew this place like the back of her hand from spending so much time volunteering there.

She briefly wondered whether any of her classmates were nearby before taking a step into one of the individual galleries. Her thoughts stopped when she saw _him_ there.

Videl felt the warmth rise on her face and that odd sensation again as she was suddenly reminded of her last time alone with Gohan. While she had seen him at school, there were always others around to put some comfortable distance between them. Her last conversation with Bulma ran through her head.

" _I doubt Gohan will say anything…." Bulma reassured Videl through the phone._

" _What do you mean? Have you spoken to him?" Videl asked Bulma, border-lining on interrogation; she didn't believe her._

" _...Well…"_

 _Videl gasped, "He called you already?" Up until this point in the conversation she had been lying down and was now sat up as she began to freak out. Alarms were going off in her head, this was not good. If Gohan figured out her secret identity and told others and it got back to her Dad…_

" _...Yes, he c-called me…" Bulma said her voice sounding odd at the word called but Videl was too deep in her own anxious thoughts to catch it for once._

 _Videl had risen up from her bed and was now pacing back and forth in her bedroom clutching the phone to her ear._

 _Somehow sensing this Bulma attempted to reassure her. "This is good Videl! I told him not to worry!"_

 _That snapped her out of it. "Not to worry?" Videl asked Bulma as if she was an idiot. What good could telling Gohan not to worry possibly do? He was apparently capable of flying and jumping 20 feet in the air, she really doubted he would listen to Bulma instructing him not to worry._

" _Yeah, I'll let the attitude slip since you're freaking out…" Bulma chastised Videl. She was still the adult and the mentor in their relationship. "Gohan is a good kid and I think I convinced him that you, well not Videl you, but crime fighting you have good intentions and to just leave you alone. Not to mention…" Bulma had to pause to take a breath because she had to say all of this as fast as possible knowing that Videl could start questioning her endlessly. "I told him to come to me again before anyone else, so don't worry!"_

 _Videl was silent as she processed Bulma's words. A lot of what she felt was confusion. While she had a vague idea of Bulma's husband, lover, or father of her kid, she had long given up on what to call him or label him as he was unique and obviously had ties to the fighters at the Cell games… It had been news to her that Bulma even knew Gohan. She wouldn't deny that she felt the tiniest bit of envy that the two of them were acquainted with each other and it made her wonder why Bulma had kept it so secret even if their mentorship was supposed to be kept confidential._

" _Okay, I guess…I'll just take your word for it…. I guess you guys must be pretty close…" Videl said with little energy to her words. Were her and Bulma not close? Was their relationship mostly just based on a deal she had made with her father all those years ago?_

 _No, of course not. Bulma had done so much for her, especially after the incident. She had listened to her and even went as far as developing these suits for her. Videl just needed to take a step back and respect their boundaries._

 _Bulma was also quiet on her end of the line and had taken in a sharp breath and was about to say something before Videl cut her off._

" _Really, it's fine... It's just the way he looked at me, that's all…" Just thinking about it now still gave Videl chills._

" _The way he looked at you?" Bulma asked clearly interested._

 _Videl couldn't have explained even if she tried, so taking the easy way out and wanting to ignore these strange new feelings she decided to just listen to Bulma's original words about not worrying about Gohan. Even though her gut didn't want to in the slightest._

" _Okay, I'll trust you...and Gohan I guess…" Videl told Bulma, obviously not okay with it._

" _You know…" Bulma trailed off as gears turned in her head, "Maybe you should try to get to know Gohan then…"_

 _The idea of that after seeing Gohan so intense earlier nearly made Videl fall over._

" _What? How?" She asked alarmed._

 _Luckily for Bulma, Videl could not see how giddy she was becoming over this. How could she have not seen this before? "You're a smart girl, figure it out."_

 _Videl was just about to respond and question what difference would it make if she got to know Gohan but Bulma beat her to the chase and spoke first._

" _Maybe if he gets to know you as normal Videl 'annoying student' Satan, he won't suspect you as the Satan City Crimefighter…" Bulma smirked as she knew that would be a perfect motivation!_

So now here she was. Alone with Gohan. The perfect chance to speak to him. She wouldn't deny that the thought had crossed her mind earlier in the week, but again, there had been no natural opportunities.

Thinking well here goes nothing, Videl spoke, "Hi Gohan…" Inwardly wincing at how shy she sounded, she instantly looked away from him so he couldn't see her face. She now longed for the beginning of the school year, when she had no problem approaching him at the train station. Hell, she had even found the whole experience funny back then.

Back when she thought that he just _seemed_ weird, now she knew he was _definitely_ weird and that intimidated her. But it was that specific sort of intimidation that meshed with fascination and she couldn't deny that she wanted to know more about him.

Seeing the lone painting on the wall she began talking just on autopilot, as she would often do to control being nervous. "Oh, this one is nice, isn't it?"

Yeah, if she kept talking maybe this awkward interaction would end up okay.

It had been tremendously awkward at first but Videl's conversation with Gohan became easier. She had offered to give him some background information regarding the painting and, much to her surprise, he had actually accepted! Videl had wrongfully assumed that since Gohan was in the science curriculum and got along with Sharpener and Erasa that he, like them, would turn his nose up at her fascination with art, but it was actually the complete opposite. He was a complete gentleman and actively listened to every word she said. So much so that she may have gone overboard a bit, but he never stopped her! Not one eye roll, huff, or anything!

He seemed so gentle right now and his gaze was considerably softer than during their previous run-in. It wasn't like she didn't have any exposure to boys her age, but there was something about Gohan now that she couldn't shake off. Such as sometimes finding her eyes lingering on his hand whenever he readjusted his tie, triggering her to then notice how solid his chest appeared beneath it. So solid...but she would brush these observations off, not sure as to what to make of them as she had never had thoughts like that before.

Just as she was about to tell him about Le Pomme's famous quarrel she was cut off by the ear-piercing alarms. The two of them jumped out of their seats in unison.

Her heart leaped at the sound continued at the security lights were turned on. The flaring and flashing by them were disorienting. Something was wrong.

"OKAY EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR! THE RED SHARK GANG HAS TAKEN OVER THIS MUSEUM DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND GET DOWN. WE HAVE TAKEN DIRECTOR TOMOEDA HOSTAGE AND WE WILL HURT HIM IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY" boomed from the loudspeakers.

Was the director taken as a hostage? Videl became infuriated. She had known director Tomoeda for years. He was such a kind man! Clenching her watch with her fingers she knew she had to step in.

Gohan began to kneel on the floor, obviously following the instructions broadcasted over the pa system. Videl reassured herself as she saw this, believing that it was good since it meant she could easily ditch Gohan and go.

Maybe Gohan was scared. Even if he did have some weird history or situation and was indeed the son of Son Goku, something Videl had managed to piece together in her free time over the last few days since talking to Bulma, he was still just a teenager. Seeing his knees make contact with the ground and his eyes look downward Videl saw her chance and took it, running out of the room.

Running down the long hallway she placed her back against the wall. Peering past the corner stealthily, she saw that no one was around. Now was the perfect time. Just as her fingertips were going to make contact with the all-important button on her watch a strong, masculine, and familiar voice made her look up.

"Videl, what are you doing?!"

It was him. And Videl got that feeling again. He loomed over her, his shoulders appearing so broad and his brow furrowed as his gaze penetrated her.

She was almost scared, but there was no time for that. Her sense of duty was too strong. She had to come up with an excuse and get Gohan off her case and quick.

"I'm...I'm…." She said floundering. In her head she was screaming at herself to say something, anything. No words would come to mind though; the pressure she was under was too much. The alarms, lights, and now Son Gohan staring her down…

Gohan's intense gaze fell through and he visibly relaxed. Before Videl could fathom why, he took her by surprise by standing right next to her.

"Hey, it'll be okay…" he said, trying to comfort her and even though he was being anything but intimidating, now that strange feeling had come back and was now even worse?

He then grasped her hand. The skin on her hand began tingling. It was too weird and she immediately took her hand back.

Mr. Tomoeda~ She suddenly remembered! That was what this was about, forget Gohan!

Turning away from him she saw that the coast was clear and ran. Sure it was highly risky, but she didn't have time for this!

As soon as she was out of Gohan's eye line, she finally managed to press the button on her watch and transformed. He was probably right behind her, not to mention he had some special abilities, but none of that mattered to Videl right now. Knowing the layout of the museum, she did manage to get some distance.

"Hey you!" a useless red shark gang goon yelled seeing her. Right as she stepped towards him, Videl reached into one of her suit's many hidden pockets and pulled out what appeared to be small pebble-like objects. She hurled one at the offender and he let out a sharp yelp as suddenly ropes enveloped him pinning him to the ground.

Videl kept moving and threw a few more when she was approached by more red sharks. Reaching into another compartment her fingers felt something Bulma had warned her to use only in an indoor emergency and with great caution. Well, this was obviously one of those times. Still running as fast as she possibly could, she clenched the object with one hand as she pressed a button on the side of her helmet with her free one. A layer of some kind of breathable material appeared protecting her mouth and nose.

"Well here goes," she remarked to no one as she threw what was in her hand down at the ground and didn't look back.

She was finally in the museum's main collection. As she ran she could see a pink transparent gas surpassing her and several thud-like sounds accompanying it.

Sensing danger Videl slowed down approaching the atrium. This would be the most likely populated area of the building. The sight that she was met with threw her off, however.

Everyone was sleeping. Tourists, red sharks, everyone was sound asleep, curled up on the floor.

 _Wow, I can't believe Bulma's sleep bomb really worked…_ Videl thought as she tiptoed her way through the many slumbering bodies on the floor. She even saw Sharpener drooling next to Erasa who was snoring. She chuckled at the sight.

Videl didn't have time to bask in the sleeping bomb's success though, she had to help Mr. Tomoeda!

Finally managing her way to his office she saw that both the director and the Red Shark gang members had all fallen under the sleeping bomb's effects. She briefly remembered Bulma instructing her that it was a very potent gas and was capable of infiltrating an entire building's air circulation system.

As she surveyed the gang members she stopped, immediately recognizing the gang leader. His body was the closest to Mr. Tomoeda. He was one of the senior security guards! Her father had even helped him get his position here! Videl scowled. She almost wanted to strike him, but that wouldn't be right.

She did shove him to the side roughly and didn't feel any remorse. Taking his seat at the director's desk, Videl typed some at the computer. She discovered that the security system had been tampered with. The alarm and lockdown had initiated but not the notifications to the police.

With a few keyboard strokes, she managed to fix that along with deleting the security footage of her in the isolated wing. This was so no one could discover her changing. With one last sweep through her mental checklist, she opened the office's sole window and escaped. She would hide until the police arrived.

After spending an hour in the bushes, Videl clicked her watch and emerged. Her hands and knees ached from being in contact with the ground for too long. She shivered and noticed that the sun was setting now, the suit had been much warmer than her school blazer.

Approaching the courtyard, her eyes scanned for her friends. She saw long perfectly straight blonde hair and immediately knew it was Sharpener.

"Videl!" He yelled at the sign of her. Erasa turned as she was right next to him.

"Oh my god I'm glad you're alright! We were really worried about you!" The blonde girl praised nearly in tears as she enveloped Videl into a hug.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" Videl asked. She had to play dumb. Plus she was curious what their perceptions of the entire ordeal would be.

"I don't really know… the alarms went off and we all got down as the Red Shark gang told us…." Erasa had to pause several times while telling her story due to shock. "And then this smelly gas stuff came out of nowhere! I just remember closing my eyes and then being woken up by a paramedic after that!"

Videl felt guilty. While the sleep bomb had been of the utmost convenience for her and had resulted in literally no one getting hurt, she had not taken into consideration how disorienting it would be for those affected by it. With dread, she hoped that there weren't any other side effects…

"Where were you Videl? We've been searching for you and Gohan for 20 minutes!" Sharpener scolded her as though she was a child. Over the last few years, Videl had developed a bit of a knack for disappearing off on her own at times without any explanation. This really irritated her friends.

"Oh well, you know me… I went off on my own to admire that visiting collection…" Videl said avoiding eye contact with the blonde male. She desperately hoped they would buy her excuse; it hadn't been a complete lie.

"Well, was Gohan with you?" Sharpener inquired sharply as he was peering over the crowds.

"Uh...no…" Videl lied as she held one elbow with one of her hands attempting to comfort herself. Invasive thoughts released into her mind as though they had been let free from a cage.

Gohan would be alright, he had to be. He probably was the closest to the sleep bomb's explosion, but Bulma hadn't mentioned any side effects… He would wake up. He had to wake up. Oh god, what if he didn't wake up?! And what if when he did he came after her looking for answers!

"Oh, Gohan!" Erasa exclaimed rushing past Sharpener and Videl.

Turning her head, Videl saw him. He looked tired, as there were clear bags under his eyes, but otherwise seemed ok. That image of him towering over her flashed in her mind briefly and her chest tightened.

Taking that as a sign to leave, Videl clumsily slapped her hand on Sharpener's back.

"Welllll, Gohan looks okay, I'm gonna go now, I bet my Dad is wondering where I am, yeah, oh look at the time, gonna go now, bye!" She said very quickly as she waved to Sharpener, not letting him get a word in and ran, in the opposite direction, as fast as possible.

-

 _To those still reading - please review if possible, I would love to know your thoughts!_


	9. Gohan V

Special thanks to ZFJ and Divineffej !

Chapter 9 - Gohan V

* * *

Gohan blinked out of confusion. Where was he? He found himself lying on the ground and as he sat up everything felt so out of place. What was going on? Squinting his eyes, he tried to figure out his surroundings. Everything felt so fuzzy.

Wide-eyed, he jerked up panicked, the museum, the takeover! Videl! Last thing he remembered he had been trying to chase her down!

He searched for her energy signature. Immediately he felt it and he ran as quickly as he could towards it.

"G-Gohan…" Videl called out to him helplessly her eyes wide with fear. He had found her, but being held by some ugly crook.

The crook had a striking resemblance to the one he saw the other day that had been apprehended by the Satan City Heroine. The slimy wrongdoer nastily grinned as he held a knife up to Videl's neck clearly intent on hurting her but not before he had his way with her.

Videl looked utterly hopeless and terrified. It was breaking his heart. Plus this guy was obviously trying to get fresh with her!

Without thinking or caring, Gohan grabbed him away from Videl and decked him straight in the face. How dare he touch her like that!

The crook lay unconscious exactly as Gohan had seen him do so before.

Gohan didn't get a chance to turn back and see if Videl was all right because she somehow magically had wrapped her arms around him from behind.

He froze at their close contact and his face heated up immediately. She was seriously pressed up against him. Videl's soft touch sparked senses he didn't even know existed.

"A-are you okay V-Videl?" He stammered avoiding looking at her Somehow she had managed to snake around to his front now facing him and entirely embracing him. Good thing she was so short in comparison he could just stare at the ceiling and avoid looking at her.

"Yes, I feel so safe now, here." She purred against him as she ran a finger down his chest slowly. It felt like it was burning him but in a pleasurable way. "With you." She whispered in his ear causing his face to flush intensely.

Gohan closed his eyes and bit his lip still trying his best not to look at the girl wrapped around him as her hands were literally touching his heart now. "O-okay…" he stammered attempting to reassure her. He was really straining to keep his eyes closed, she must be doing all of this in reaction to the trauma she just endured she couldn't possibly be interested in him like that.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned even more into him, and that burning feeling spread all over him like a blanket. A blanket he never wanted to let go of.

"Gohan…" she said almost pleading him, "Look at me…" she sounded desperate. He couldn't say no to her.

He opened his eyes then and there she was just beneath him. Her eyes shining like in that magazine clipping he saw of her so long ago, but now she wasn't looking away from a camera, she was staring directly at him. She looked so beautiful right now. He would easily buy up all of the magazines she was in if he could.

Instinctively he wrapped his arms around the small of her back pressing her closer to him. He could feel the ends of her long tresses against his hands. They were so soft. She was so soft.

And her lips looked so soft as she stood on her tiptoes and closed her eyes, he had to kiss her and now. All he had to do was move forward. She was so close, he could feel her breaths tickle his skin. Just a little more and he would close the gap.

* * *

"Gohan! Get up! You have school today!" ChiChi was livid, her oldest hadn't been to class since the middle of last week! How could he seriously be oversleeping now!

Ripped from his dream and inserted into reality, Gohan groaned and hid under the covers not wanting to face the new day. There was no hopeless Videl to save here.

"Just a minute!" He said irritated.

"You should have left ten minutes ago!" ChiChi couldn't believe how horrible her firstborn son had become sometimes. He used to be so happy to get up in the mornings and study, but over the last few years, he had developed into a night owl and really despised mornings. Why she had thought actually giving him a place to go in the morning would change things she didn't know.

"I'll be up in a minute!" He said still under the covers. He wasn't coming out with his mother present, no way.

ChiChi just scowled and decided to leave him to it. He was old enough to deal with the consequences of being late.

Nearly busting the door of the school down Gohan made his way through the vacant hallways. They were an annoying blatant reminder that he was late, which he was well aware of.

It had been his first day back at school since the events at the art museum trip. Due to the chaos that occurred during it, the school had allowed the students that had attended to be excused from classes for a week. It had been a pretty boring break and Gohan had been eager to get back to his classes.

He gulped seeing the door to his early morning class was shut. Looking through its sole window, he could see that everyone was in attendance. Great, they would all eyes would be on him.

Opening the door, he stared at the floor as he awkwardly announced himself to everyone. "Hi, sorry I'm late…"

"Yes Mr. Son, it's fine, please go sit." The teacher said not even bothering to look at him.

Making his way to his seat Gohan took a few glances at the other students. Everyone appeared to be here, Sharpener, Erasa, and… _her_.

Videl was sat eagerly taking notes. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her head was leaning a little to the side as she wrote. Eying the smooth skin of her neck, Gohan looked away turning a deep shade of red suddenly remembering his dream, every detail of it had remained in his mind. At least she appeared to be all right.

* * *

" _Oh, Gohan!" Erasa called out to him and ran up and embracing him in a hug._

 _Gohan was so confused and tired. He had just been woken up from a nap; a nap that he had not volunteered for. And by a medical professional of all people. His muscles ached, that sleep had been so deep but not at all refreshing._

 _Seeing Videl with Sharpener for a split second Gohan's eyes widened as she ran away._

 _Suddenly remembering how he had chased Videl down before passing out Gohan took a few steps forward quickly._

" _Wait, Videl!" Just as he was about to run to her full force, he didn't care if people saw, he had to know what the hell she had been trying to get up to. Sharpener grabbed him._

" _Hold on Gohan!" Sharpener said really struggling to hold Gohan back._

" _Let go of me, I have to find out what she was up to!" Gohan demanded. He had to know if she was okay and maybe she saw the Satan City Heroine!_

" _No way, let me guess you saw Videl before the blackout?" Sharpener responded just as seriously._

 _Gohan finally stopped surprised at Sharpener. "Yeah." He answered as he turned around facing the pair._

" _I figured as much when you and Videl took a while to come out I knew that both of you must have been in the same place. We did ask her if she saw you, but of course, she lied." Sharpener analyzed._

 _Erasa rolled her eyes._

" _Did Videl say what she saw before everyone fell asleep? We separated before then…" Gohan's voice lingered as he remembered how Videl snatched her hand back from him as if he was repulsive. It stung looking back on it. Did she dislike him? Is that why she would lie to Sharpener and Erasa about seeing him? And running away just now? They had been getting along so well just before the museum takeover, what was going on?_

" _No...listen Gohan, I know we don't know you all that well, but there's something you need to know about Videl…" Sharpener began._

 _Gohan braced himself for what he figured would be a serious story._

" _Videl's weird! Like really weird! And sometimes she's super dodgy." Erasa interrupted having to say something._

 _Gohan nearly fell over. Videl Satan wasn't weird! He was weird. Videl was this overachieving-student-heiress hybrid. Who was capable of anything! She wasn't weird._

 _Seeing the look on Gohan's face Sharpener laughed. "No seriously, she has her moments…"_

" _Yeah, you'll see, she disappears all the time and with no explanation. Just gone! And if you try to ask her about it…" Erasa told off with relish. She had explained this many times._

" _..no answer, nothing. She just avoids the question." Sharpener finished for her._

" _No way…" Gohan didn't believe what they were saying._

" _Oh, you don't have many classes with her, do you Gohan?" Erasa asked smirking._

" _Uh, no, only history in the morning, with both of you two.."_

 _Both Erasa and Sharpener looked at each other knowingly._

" _I bet you that she leaves mysteriously during that class by the end of this month! She does it all the time, you must have been lucky and not noticed yet." Sharpener asserted._

 _Gohan blinked, totally unsure of what to say next. He had not particularity noticed Videl being weird, but she was definitely not normal earlier. Maybe his intimidation of her public persona had clouded his judgment? A thought arose in his mind though that he had to speak up about._

" _During the incident just now, when we were supposed to get down, she didn't. She just ran…so you think it was to help stop those red shark guys?" Gohan asked while theorizing. She was Mr. Satan's daughter after all, would it really be out of the question if she knew how to fight? What, what if she was the Satan City Heroine! Could it really be such a stretch?_

 _Erasa and Sharpener began to laugh. Hard. For several minutes._

 _Gohan sweat dropped. What had he been thinking? Obviously, Videl couldn't fight, she was just a normal, well in terms of physicality anyway, girl! That strange sleeping gas must have really been getting to him. What a crazy conclusion for him to come to, her being the Satan City Heroine..._

" _I'm sorry Gohan…" Erasa said between laughs "I just...I just can't…" she proceeded to keep laughing._

" _Yeah… Videl is not her father… she's really clumsy!" Sharpener managed to say finally finishing laughing._

* * *

Midway through the lesson though, something weird did happen. Videl suddenly stood up and ran out.

"Ms. Satan, where are you going?" Mrs. Espinacas asked obviously frustrated.

"Business with my father gotta go!" She said scurrying out her hand waving behind her.

"What business? Get back here young lady!" Mrs. Espinacas screeched after her following her out of the room causing Gohan to wince as she reminded of his mother.

He was, however, stunned completely unsure to make of it all. A paper ball hit him in the back causing him to turn his head.

It was from Sharpener who was making a 'pay-up' motion with his fingers.

Gohan ignored him and opened the crumpled paper and read the words 'TOLD YOU' scribbled on it. Glancing to Erasa she had the same telling look.

"Oh I bet Ms. Espinacas is furious, you weren't here Gohan, but last year in the lower grade history class Videl would get up and leave like that like ten times!" Erasa said grinning.

"Yeah but to be fair though, she still finished first in the class, I think that's what irritates Ms. Espinacas more," Sharpener said.

"Oh whoa, guys! There's a fire downtown! And some people are trapped inside an apartment building!" One of the other students exclaimed having pulled out their phone with the teacher absent.

The rest of the class began chatting but only for a few seconds for Mrs. Espinacas had returned, exasperated.

Gohan stared back at Videl's empty chair. How strange. He hoped those people were okay, but from the sounds of it, the police and fire department were already involved.

His sense of justice was eating at him though, if Videl could leave surely he could? Standing up he was just about to make his way out of the classroom.

"Mr. Son where do you think you're going?!" The teacher yelled directly at him.

"...bathroom?", Gohan said shyly.

"NO sit down! You can go once Ms. Satan comes back! None of you are to leave this classroom!" She continued to shout pointing at all of them.

Sitting back down Gohan glanced at the clock. He would give it an hour. Videl would surely be back before then.

And as if she was reading his mind Erasa leaned over to Gohan and whispered, "You're never going to get to go, she's not coming back anytime soon…", she finished by cheekily winking at him.

The clock ticked slowly but an hour did eventually pass by and just as the teacher was finishing the lesson Videl came back in.

"Great Ms. Satan, glad to see you could join us for the last ten minutes." Mrs. Espinacas wasn't holding in her anger well. Veins were bulging out of her forehead.

"Oh sorry!" Videl said bashfully.

Gohan took quick notice of Videl's appearance. Her face looked quite red as though she had been out in the heat, which was unusual given the season. Her hair which was still in the ponytail didn't seem as neatly done as it had been earlier too. And was some of it wet?

Glancing at the window, Gohan wondered if it had been raining or snowing. As his eyes looked at various surfaces, pavement, trees, grass, everything was dry. How could she have been exposed to water?

Momentarily Gohan was stumped.. he silently puzzled to himself as to what she had been up to and why she had to leave so suddenly. How bizarre…

The same student who had interrupted earlier shrieked in excitement obviously having looked at their phone. "Oh my god! The Satan City Heroine managed to save people from that burning building!"

Other students became abuzz with the news and began asking how. Gohan leaned over wanting to hear as well. Everyone loved the Satan City Heroine, her popularity was blossoming and improving the city's morale.

"ENOUGH!" The teacher roared slamming her book on her desk. Clearly, there were to be no more interruptions.

The half saiyan's thoughts were still on the Satan City Heroine though, during his time off he had continued his research into her. The first thing he had investigated was if any photographs or cctv footage had been left over from the museum scandal, but all of his tedious searches had resulted in nothing. There were speculations as to what the sleeping agent was that had been used, all revealing that it was a perfectly safe lavender-based compound, but extremely potent. How she managed to utilise such technology was still a mystery at large, as no companies produced such unique items. Tapping his foot anxiously he made a mental note to look into this fire incident later.

* * *

The rest of the day went on as normal. Gohan had to stay a little later to discuss plans for a biology project with another student. Leaving the school doors, this time not in a hurry, he was anxious to get home.

It was now getting so cold that he could see his breath as he walked. The sun had already begun to set, but the sky was completely grey and overcast.

Crossing several streets, everything appeared normal. Hopefully, the time spent planning that project wouldn't make him late for dinner, he was starving. His plan of action was to go home, eat, do his homework, and maybe even look into that Satan City Heroine some more.

"Stop! I'm warning you!"

 _Huh? That was a woman's voice! Could it have been her?_ Gohan's interest now piqued and his grumbling stomach forgotten, he ran to the source of the voice. If it was the heroine, maybe he could try and talk to her and find out who she really was!

Gohan halted when he saw who it actually was though. _Videl?_ His facial expression perplexed.

It was definitely her all right as she stood in her school uniform. Adorned with a thick coat, one could still see her skirt and opaque black tights. As Gohan briefly looked at her legs he could have sworn there were something familiar about them but he shook it off at how stupid that thought was.

There was a ski-masked clad man in front of her, he looked dangerous and up to no good. He was similar to that guy that held Videl up in his dream actually, but she appeared drastically different.

Gohan internally questioned how Satan City could be filled with these losers? They seemed endless.

An elderly man with a walker was stood with them as well clearly distressed.

"Give this man back his wallet! Now!" Videl demanded. She was serious. Chills ran down Gohan's spine. He had never seen her be so serious before, usually, she was much more mannerly.

"What are you going to do about it? Call your Daddy?" The scumbag taunted her his voice thick with insinuation. He wasn't the one in Gohan's dream but may as well have been.

Videl rolled her eyes clearly not wanting to deal with this. She instinctively went into a fighting stance.

Gohan hadn't realized how close he had wandered towards the scene, but from what he could observe her stance seemed solid. Maybe Sharpener and Erasa were wrong, maybe she could fight.

For now, he would just hang back and watch. A part of him was confident she would be all right.

Just then Videl looked to her left and saw Gohan. "Oh hi, G-Gohan," she said nervously and smiled awkwardly causing her stance to fall apart within a second. To make matters worse, she slipped as well completely nullifying her strong facade the last few seconds. If Erasa and Sharpener had been there, they probably would have laughed.

...or maybe not, Gohan's eyes went wide as he knew exactly what was about to happen and quickly got ready to pounce on that low life.

But he just wasn't quick enough as with a loud snap that echoed the wallet-thief struck her, right in the face.

"Oh fuck!" She screamed putting her hands over where it hurt. Unluckily for her, it had been right in near her eye.

Feeling the same rage towards this guy as the one in the dream Gohan was quick to jump on him and push him away from Videl. He almost punched him a thousand times worse than he had hit Videl if the sound of sirens hadn't stopped him.

The old man had managed to dial the police in all of this ruckus.

Calming down Gohan let the two officers apprehend the assailant. Rushing over to Videl he braced himself expecting the worst.

"Oh, Videl…" He said to her gently, she was facing away from the police and walking quickly. Surprisingly she had managed to get back on her feet. She must be so embarrassed and in so much pain.

"Wait! Where are you going!" He began following her. "Why were you there? You shouldn't have gotten involved... Videl!" Gohan lectured her as he kept up with her. He didn't mean to patronize her so harshly, but what had she been thinking?

"You should really let me look!" He pleaded, feeling awful. Why did he have to see for himself if she could fight? He should have just stepped in immediately. The guilt was overwhelming him. Her getting hurt was his fault.

Videl just picked up the pace covering the bad side of her face with her hand. "I'm fine Gohan really!" The other hand clutched at her coat, it was dark now and freezing cold.

If it had been anyone other than Gohan they may have begun to notice that the two of them were running at this point, but he was too concerned for her. This chase went on down several city blocks and now into Orange Park.

Being able to only see in one eye Videl tripped on some rubble on the pavement and let out a sharp cry as she did so. The two blondes probably would have laughed at that too, because there was something comical about how she landed.

"Oh my gosh Videl…" Gohan bent down to help her to offer his hand to her free one. He was almost heartbroken at the sight and was deeply worried about her. She finally conceded letting Gohan help her up shaking and nearly falling over again. She really was clumsy.

This time she took it and let him lead her to a bench where they both sat. Gohan saw that her tights had ripped from the fall on her knee which had turned red from the harsh contact with the rough pavement. She looked disturbed her hair and clothes in disarray; contrasting greatly to how she usually appeared to him, polished and almost model-like.

He swallowed as he briefly wished he could put his hand there, on her knee, and shield it from the cold somehow. If only he could pull her close and protect her from everyone and everything. But he had to keep his head straight and ignore those thoughts.

"Well, I think it will bruise for a few days but I think it will be okay. Nothing is broken and you aren't bleeding. I don't think you will need to go to the hospital." Gohan said as he inspected her face, becoming increasingly more self conscious of being so close to her.

Luckily for him, Videl didn't say much, he assumed it was just her reaction to everything. She wasn't looking at him.

"Really you took that punch quite well!" Gohan retorted encouragingly chuckling a bit.

Videl didn't laugh. Gohan looked away awkwardly realizing that comment may have gone too far. He then remembered what Sharpener said after the art museum heist.

" _..no answer, nothing. She just dodges the question."_

Was that what Videl was doing now? Gohan looked at her for a second and saw that the tissue around her eye was already swelling up. He should really offer to get her some ice. Seeing possibly the only ice cream vendor serving he got up. Luckily this spot in Orange Park was popular, even in the winter.

"Wait here I'll just get you a popsicle or something…" Gohan said and came back with a fruit popsicle almost instantly. He couldn't help but want to baby her.

Handing her the wrapped popsicle she pressed it against the wound wincing at the contact. She still didn't speak.

To end the silence, Gohan cleared his throat. "Uh, I won't tell Erasa and Sharpener… they don't need to know." He had hoped this would reassure her. The blonde duo probably would have laughed and laughed, out of love of course, but still.

Videl sighed clearly agitated at this entire series of events. He wished she would talk, but understood why she wasn't. He saw her begin to shiver and had assumed it was from the weather.

"Oh, um, do you want my coat? You must be cold…" Gohan said as he began to take his coat off fully intending to wrap it around her. This intense need to take care of her had fully enveloped him; what was the point in fighting it anymore?

"No, that's alright, I'm okay, I should make my way home," Videl said flatly avoiding looking at Gohan. She tried to get up.

"Oh no no, you can't walk home like that, I'll call you a taxi!" Gohan insisted. She had just been in harm's way so there was no way he was going to let her walk home alone. If it had been up to him, he would have scooped her up in his arms and flown her back to her home, which would have allowed her to remain warm and comfortable. Again, because it's what she needed, not because he longed to hold her or anything.

Videl didn't say anything as Gohan got out his phone and called for a taxi. It was the best compromise he could come up with. She just sat their silent, stewing.

It didn't take long for the cab to arrive. He helped her up and opened the door for her.

"Thanks, Gohan…if Sharpener and Erasa asked, I fell over, okay?" She asked finally looking up at him with her one good eye as she settled in the car.

Even hit in the face she still took his breath away. "Y-yeah, of course. Feel better Videl." He said before closing the door, wishing he could go with her to make sure she would get home safely.

He stood and watched the car drive off. Clenching his fists the remorse and shame was really getting to him. Why hadn't he just stepped in? Videl was so much, smart, interesting, pretty…but she clearly wasn't a fighter and he had no reason to think that she was. He should have protected her! Even with this crush on her, his cheeks turned the slightest bit of red as he finally acknowledged that he did indeed have a crush on her; it shouldn't have mattered.

Defeated, Gohan made his way to his usual flying spot and went home. He was late for dinner and received an earful from his mother. It didn't matter though, since his mood remained sour. As he slept that night, however; in his dreams, he held Videl tightly in his arms and didn't let go.

* * *

Thanks for all of the responses last chapter! I think this one is even better though! Let me know what you thought!


	10. Videl III

**Role Reversal Chapter 10 - Videl III**

* * *

Videl tapped her fist against the door with vigor. Beyond panicking she needed to speak to Bulma now.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" The scientist's voice blasted through the door as she approached it.

Right before it opened Videl noticed some sizeable dents on the door's surface.

"Videl?! What…" Bulma said taking in her mentee's state. Her voice got caught in her throat.

"What happened to your door?"

"The door?! What the fuck happened to your face?!" Worried, she pulled the girl forward and inspected the now swollen area surrounding her eye.

The teenager groaned. She had forgotten about the earlier incident. Where Gohan had appeared right before she was going to fight that crook and she had to pretend to be bad at fighting and thus literally took a punch to the face. There wasn't much pain coming from the injury in question but with every passing hour since it happened it looked worse.

"Woman, where are my trousers?" Vegeta asked harshly walking in on the two of them. He was only in his boxer shorts.

Videl turned away from the couple; her face red. Even with her father's profession, she had never seen a man that exposed.

"Vegeta! Put some clothes on!" Bulma screeched. Was he trying to traumatize the girl?

But Vegeta didn't move and instead stood staring at Videl's face. It made her uncomfortable. She only had limited run-ins with Bulma's...lover and frankly, he always gave her the creeps.

"Girl! What happened to your face?" He asked crossing his arms in disapproval.

Bulma gave Videl a look saying she needed to answer.

"I got punched by someone, what else?" Videl answered shortly. It was what happened.

"Punched?! By who?" Bulma asked her blood boiling.

"Well… it's complicated..." Videl began before telling them what had happened.

* * *

 _Videl was sweltering under the intense heat. It was a bit of an odd situation given that it was the beginning of winter and what should have been a boring uneventful Monday morning. Instead of sitting in a comfortable classroom listening to a teacher lecture about one of her favorite historical periods, the teenage heroine was currently on the collapsing roof of a burning building._

 _Taking the most cautious steps in her life Videl was trying to get to the building's main water repository. If only she could just release it the water stored inside would make a considerable difference in fanning the violent flames. The smoke billowing from the fire was thick and dark and if it wasn't for the technology of her suit, she'd likely be dead..._

 _Clenching the curved handle of the tank her gloved hands attempted to pull with all her might. The muscles of her arms ached and her pulse was racing. Desperation began to flood through her, if she wasn't able to do this, would others arrive in time? There were definitely people still in the building; there was no doubt about that._

" _Shit, why won't you move!" She cursed at it; there was no way it would budge._

 _The floor beneath her shook violently and the railing on the edge of the building snapped in half. A particularly sharp piece came towards her. She jumped, dodging it, but barely. Completely exasperated, Videl glanced around trying her best to fight off panic._

 _Eyeing the piece of metal, an idea formed in her mind. She could just pierce the stupid tank!_

 _Newly motivated and focused, she grabbed the metal shrapnel and swiftly lifted it above her head and punctured the thin metal walls of the tank. Water trickled out slowly at first, but then it flowed out..._

 _She grimaced as a few splashes hit her. She could feel the droplets make contact with the exposed skin of her face and hair refreshing her as she was burning up from the heat and smoke._

 _As the water began to flow through the cracks on the roof Videl was relieved at the sight of steam forming. Confirming what she had wanted the water was traveling downward and making contact with the flames underneath._

 _Hearing the high pitched sirens of fire trucks Videl decided it was time to make her exit. Making quick use of her grappling gun she propelled herself over several rooftops before scaling down into an empty alleyway._

 _Activating her watch the suit disappeared and she inhaled sharply finally free of that stupid helmet. Taking several deep breaths she tried to calm down. Out of all of her teenage superhero experiences, this one would take the cake as the most intense. Death had loomed over her in that fire._

* * *

 _As Videl re-entered the classroom she could feel the skin on her face was still scorching. The teacher made a remark towards her, but Videl was too distracted to care. She just said a courteous sorry for sitting down._

 _The rest of the day had proceeded as normal and luckily for her, she didn't have to talk much. Videl was more than ready to go home. Taking her usual route, she had planned to keep staring at the ground and not make eye contact with anyone. She just wanted to go home and take a bath._

" _Listen, old man- don't play games with me!" a gruff voice said._

 _Unable to ignore the outburst, Videl looked up and saw a large beefy man. He was bullying a much smaller frail elderly man. She scrunched her nose at the despicable site... Seriously, how much of this was there in Satan City? Would it ever end?_

" _Don't make me have to tell you again!" The brash man projected as he pushed the old man onto the ground._

 _Videl rolled up her sleeves as her nostrils flared. She was going to give this guy a piece of her mind and now! It did briefly cross her mind that she should use her watch and put the suit on, but surely this time would be all right._

" _Hey! Her voice was loud and clear._

 _The guy turned and his eyes wandered up and down her, so not only was he a bully but a pervert too. Great._

" _Yeah, what do you want?" He asked coolly as the old man was still struggling._

" _I want you to leave that guy alone!"_

 _The guy's eyes squinted for a second before he obviously made a realization. "You're Mr. Satan's daughter!"_

 _Videl despised being recognized, she could never get used to it and it always made her squirm. But perhaps now, it would be a good thing._

 _Maybe this low life would stop his horrible behavior at the risk of having to deal with Mr. Satan…_

" _Hey don't get up!" He yelled at the old man making him cower helplessly._

 _Or not._

 _Enraged, Videl screamed at the top of her lungs, "Stop! I'm warning you!"_

 _The greasy haired guy stared at her. Having his attention, she demanded that he leave the gentleman alone._

" _What are you going to do about it? Call your Daddy?"_

 _That was it. She was going to beat the shit out of this guy and nothing was going to stop her. Moving her feet forward Videl got ready to make her move._

 _Until her blue eyes met those of Gohan Son's. Her eyes widened as he somehow appeared._

' _What the hell is he doing here?!' Her mind screamed. Out of all of the people to see her fight, schoolmates were an absolute NO. If word got out to her father... and how was it that Gohan was always getting in her way?_

 _"Oh hi, G-Gohan," She stuttered in a panic. This was not good; he could not see her fight!_

 _Gohan continued to stare at the muscular person bullying the elderly person and then back to Videl. He frowned wondering what his classmate was doing._

 _She had no choice but to purposely lose her balance and slip. Letting herself be completely open for what happened next, the greasy mugger raised his fist and fighting every instinct Videl didn't block the attack._

" _Fuck!" She cursed as the pain shocked her surprisingly so even if she had expected it. He had struck her right next to her eye too. That was definitely going to leave a mark. Instinctively, she clutched her hand over it and looked back up. Not having a choice but to cower._

 _Gohan had managed to pull him off of her unexpectedly. He had pinned the loser to the ground and was fuming. His piercing stare was among the most intense look she'd ever seen from him and reminded her of Bulma's husband. Actually, something about the two of them was similar but she couldn't quite place it... Just as she saw her classmate clench his fist in the air and was rooting for him to absolutely punch the shit out of that guy, police car sirens blared as they were approaching and fast._

 _Startled, Videl realized she had to leave. Still covering where she had been assaulted, she readied herself to begin walking away._

 _"Oh, Videl…" Gohan's voice called out to her full of concern. Her heart clenched hearing his caring tone, but she couldn't stop for him. She couldn't stop for anyone. Not after the promise she made. This was the price she paid._

 _"Wait! Where are you going?" Much to Videl's disappointment, he started following her. "What were you doing there? You shouldn't have gotten involved... Videl!" He voice was thick with concern and she almost wanted to answer him, but she couldn't._

 _She could never turn back. She had made this choice. So much of her life had changed because of it._

 _"You should really let me look!" Gohan insisted, his voice becoming more desperate he was still behind her._

 _"I'm fine Gohan really!" She snarled as she sprinted ahead, her hand covering the injured tissue on her face which still stung. Why couldn't he just leave her alone!_

 _Her one eye failed her causing her to slip, again, in front of Gohan. Landing awkwardly on her knees. The contact of the rough pavement scraped against them and she could feel the cold air making contact with the bare skin of her left knee. Her tights had torn there._

 _Great how could things get any worse?_

" _Oh my gosh...Videl…" Gohan gasped as he had caught up with her now and he bent down offering his hand to help her up._

 _Getting a second glance at him, she saw how red his nose and cheeks had become from the cold. Making him seem rather boyish and cute. The throbbing pain from the side of her face, however, came back with a vengeance ending those thoughts._

 _Sighing she took his hand and let him help her up. Unexpectedly, his soft touch caused her heart to flutter momentarily. What was the point in running anymore?_

 _Sitting in silence as he attempted to make light of the situation Videl couldn't respond. She had nothing to say that wouldn't bring up more questions, so she stuck to her usual strategy in this situation. Silence. If it worked with Sharpener and Erasa, it most certainly would work for Gohan._

 _She avoided his gaze as he inspected her face. He made a few comments here and there, probably just trying to be friendly, but she didn't listen. Her head was spinning._

 _At some point, he handed her a popsicle which she took and pressed against the swelling of her face. While she braced herself for the cold sensation, it still took her by surprise and she winced a little. She didn't have gloves and her hands were freezing and the feeling in them was beginning to go._

 _Growing more agitated, Videl began to tremble. It was all her fault, if only she had put the suit on. She knew she hadn't of tried to take that guy on as herself._

 _Gohan must have thought that she was an idiot. Why exactly his opinion of her mattered she didn't know, but she was doing everything in her power to keep herself from screaming the truth at him._

 _She wasn't an idiot. She wasn't being reckless and stupid. She actually did know how to take care of herself. But instead, she said nothing. After all, she had promised to keep her identity secret._

" _You're going to have to pretend, no actually be helpless when you're Videl... Can you handle that?" Bulma's words from over a year ago echoed in her mind. It was what Videl had agreed to when she decided to fight crime._

 _"Oh, um, do you want my coat? You must be cold…" Gohan offered, being a such a gentleman. Any other girl would have been positively flattered._

 _But Videl was fuming. Seriously, he was offering her his coat?! Did she really seem like such a helpless little baby right now? Gohan was reminding her too much of her own father. Like she was just a useless damsel in distress that wasn't capable of doing anything on her own._

 _She tried to get up and walk away from him, but he insisted on calling her a taxi. Videl agreed and got in, finally free from him. Instead of going home though, Videl told the driver to go to the train station instead._

* * *

"Hmph. You shouldn't let your guard down even if that brat was watching…" Vegeta spat out as Videl finished her story.

Videl opened her mouth prepared to say something back, but Vegeta Continued.

"But, he should have been faster. It's repulsive how weak he's become."

"Vegeta! That isn't the problem! Videl, you should have used the suit!" Bulma chastised Videl like she was her own child. She was beyond upset that Videl had become so visibly hurt and she specifically developed that suit to prevent this.

"...you do know Gohan then and he is strong! I knew it! Was he also at the Cell games then? With you?" Videl asked Vegeta now not intimidated to speak to him anymore. So many of her suspicions had just been confirmed by him acknowledging Gohan in a familiar way.

Vegeta knew Bulma didn't want Videl to have the answers to these questions. "That doesn't matter girl."

"Yeah Videl, Gohan isn't really what is important here…" Bulma added on intending to deflect the teenager's questions. She didn't want Videl to know, at least not yet.

"You need to get stronger so you don't have to depend so much on that suit. Maybe you could even fly…" Vegeta went on. He may have been rough around the edges but the idea of girls with black eyes disgusted him.

Bulma's eyes went wide and she smacked Vegeta on the back of the head. Just when he was being reasonable he had to go and say something like that.

"I-I could fly?" Videl asked gasping. The mystery of Gohan left her mind and she was now wondering flying could be possible.

"Yes. I think you could. But Bulma has to agree to it first." He stated before walking away to avoid Bulma. He had already made her angry enough.

As he left Videl looked up at Bulma her expression asking if she could.

Sighing the blue-haired woman took Videl's hand, "Let's get someone in the medical wing to take a look at that eye kiddo… we don't want to have your pretty face ruined."

After being inspected by a doctor who came to the same conclusions as Gohan, Videl and Bulma were sitting and sharing a meal together.

"I'm guessing you're spending the night?" Bulma asked as she saw how late it had become.

"Yeah… I don't really have a choice do I?"

"No, I suppose not… you're lucky those high-speed trains exist now you know." Taking them made the usual hours-long journey from West City to Satan City to just forty-five minutes.

"Yeah, one of the first fundraisers my Dad threw was to start funding for them wasn't it?" Videl questioned beginning to feel guilty for going behind her father's back so much.

"Yes, it was. Has Hercule seen your…" Bulma pointed to Videl's face.

"No, he's out of town this week… I've been thinking of what to tell him… and everyone at school…"

Bulma began to feel remorseful. She agreed to help Videl as she reminded her so much of a young Goku and her sense of justice was a force to be reckoned with, but she didn't feel right going behind Mr. Satan's back. While he was too overprotective, he meant well. Maybe agreeing to help Videl with the crime-fighting had been a mistake.

"Oh, I got it! How I got this black eye, Apollo!" The sixteen-year-old exclaimed delightedly she had finally come up with something.

"Apollo…?" Bulma questioned as she thought it over. "Yeah, I guess that could work. It goes with what you already told Gohan, that you fell."

"Yeah, and it's the perfect rich girl excuse right?" Videl said rolling her eyes. She was aware of her public persona and that she had to embrace it in order to have her secret identity. If Videl wanted to fight crime it meant having to play up being a posh delicate heiress, even if it meant sacrificing her ego sometimes.

"Yep, exactly. You know, speaking of Gohan… you should thank him. He did help you."

Videl frowned hearing this. Currently, she didn't want to face Gohan. Something about him made her feel weird. And everything that happened today had been overwhelming.

"You should go visit Apollo tomorrow and take Gohan with you, I bet he would love that."

"What? He would?" Videl asked doubting.

"Yes, trust me. Take him."

* * *

Apologies for the late wait! I have kind of become much more into my other story, _Mend My Heart_ , and I will admit that this one isn't nearly as well planned. I do have some ideas for future chapters, but in terms of a major direction for this story, I'm not sure!

Anyway, this is probably my least favourite chapter so far. I definitely wanted to have Videl's version of the last chapter's previous events, but I did still need to move the story forward. I am hoping to still keep this pov-a-chapter structure going, but move away from repeating events over and over. But we'll see.

Thanks for reading and leave some thoughts if you wish.


	11. Gohan VI

_**Many special thanks to ZFJ, Bob Roos, and Mr. Me2 for taking a look at this chapter that began as a hot mess and for putting up with my enthusiasm.**_

* * *

 **Role Reversal Chapter 11 - Gohan VI**

* * *

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Gohan sat patiently. He had been the first to arrive that morning due to waking up much earlier than usual. To pass the time, he had his book open with the intention of working ahead, but guilt from yesterday evening distracted him. He had been worrying about Videl nonstop. No matter how often he recited the situation in his head, it never made sense. Why had Videl tried to fight that crook?

His whole body tensed as he became angry with himself. Why hadn't he intervened sooner? There was no excuse. Would she even be in school today? Did her father ask her a lot of questions? Everyone probably would… the half Saiyan began to pity her and felt partly responsible for putting her in this circumstance. It didn't help that directly following the incident he had realized that he _liked_ her. Liked her more than any other girl he had ever met and it was terrifying.

"Oh, hi Gohan, you're here early." Without fail, Videl had managed to sneak up on him again. How was she always doing this?! And right when he was thinking about how much he...had become fond of her too… his heart began to go wild.

"Oh, h-hey Videl…" He stammered unable to resist staring. She moved a lock of hair behind her ear unconsciously revealing that side of her face.

The guilt intensified while examining the delicate skin surrounding her eye. It had become dark purple, nearly black standing out in comparison to her clear fair skin. Her actual eye appeared fine, much to his relief, but the intensity of the injury was shocking. Anger swelled within him as he clenched his fists slightly.

"How's your…?" he hesitated not wanting to be one of the many people who would probe her with questions today.

"Oh yeah…" she paused putting a gentle hand to her eye covering it for a second, "it's okay… it doesn't really hurt anymore." She replied casually before placing her bag on the seat next to him, catching him off guard. He had assumed that today she would refuse to speak to him, like yesterday afternoon.

"But your vision and everything, it's okay?" He had to know.

"Yep, it's fine. I had someone look at it last night, just a bruise." Videl said as she pulled out the chair next to him, which was usually Erasa's.

"Did you go to the emergency room?" He asked frowning. Maybe her father had made her.

"No, just a doctor that works with a family friend. Anyway, I meant to ask you, how did you do on that paper? The one from the art museum trip." She asked him while taking Erasa's seat.

"Oh, um…" Gohan took a second to think as he was too distracted by the realization that she would be sitting next to him today, "I got an A actually… I meant to thank you."

Videl just waved her hand at him, "Don't worry about it, you wrote it after all."

She then turned away as she began to pull things out of her bag. The classroom was beginning to fill with students.

"Uh, Videl, what are you doing in my seat?" Erasa asked perplexed. Since the school only accepted advanced students, a university-style environment was encouraged. Seats were not assigned and were first come first serve. Gohan, however, had never been able to take advantage of this perk, due to always arriving last.

Sharpener was right behind Erasa. Videl's bad eye was on the opposite side, hidden from their view. Until she looked up from her book at them.

Right after she asked this, gasps were heard from the two. Gohan flinched.

Now the flood of questions would begin.

"W-what the hell is that?! Your eye!" Erasa cried out.

Gohan tensed up. Sharpener and Erasa would want to know every detail; Videl won't be able to fib out of this one.

"Stop overreacting, it was nothing, I had a bit of a tumble with Apollo," Videl stated not bothering to take her attention away from her notes.

...or perhaps she could? Gohan observed the two blondes reaction to her words or the lack of one.

"Oh!" They both said understanding before taking their seats next to Videl's.

What was this? Why weren't they interrogating her as to what happened? And who was Apollo? Questions began to fill Gohan's mind.

Sharpener had even begun to chuckle. "Did you fall face first? Only you would Videl!"

Videl still didn't look up. "Very funny Sharpener..."

Gohan frowned at hearing her sarcastic reply almost tempted to shake Sharpener. It was certainly NOT funny and why was everyone so content with the idea of her falling over? Yesterday Videl had said she was going to tell her friends she had fallen, but Gohan actually didn't believe they would go with it.

The girl had a black eye for crying out loud! No normal trip up would cause that.

"I was meaning to ask you how Apollo was. How long have you been paired up with him now?" Erasa asked.

Hearing the words 'paired up' made Gohan began to feel bitter towards this mysterious Apollo person. He had never felt this way before.

Videl finally looked up and bit the end of her pen thinking.

Gohan's sense of time slowed as he waited for her answer. Surely Erasa hadn't meant paired up as in… or Videl would deny it.

"About four years now?" She answered leaning back in her seat smiling as memories replayed in her mind.

Gohan's heart began to sink and that new feeling became worse. She couldn't have been implying that she liked this Apollo person…four years was a long time.

"It's flown by fast though, he's the best!" Videl relished, her voice sounding girly and happy.

"Wow! I can't believe it's been that long. How old is he again?" Erasa asked. She loved how happy Apollo made Videl.

"Twenty! His birthday was last month! I made him a cabbage-carrot cake!" Videl was beaming. You could almost forget the bruise staining her face as she was projecting so much positivity.

The two blondes smiled at this clearly approving while Gohan turned the slightest tinge of green. He told himself it was the idea of a cake made solely from cabbage and carrots, not this twenty-year-old friend of Videl's.

"How tall is Apollo?" Sharpener asked.

"Well, you would usually measure him by the shoulders… but at his highest point, I'm guessing almost seven feet and a half? But it's hard to keep him still so I've never tried."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Sharpener nodded as if that answer had been perfectly acceptable.

Biting his tongue and nearly drawing blood, Gohan was totally lost. Was this guy possibly seven feet tall? That seemed highly unlikely; his grandfather, the tallest man he had ever seen, wasn't even that tall. And what did she mean that this guy is usually measured by his shoulder? How strange.

"Gohan…" Videl said trying to get his attention.

Throughout this conversation, Gohan had been inching closer to his book to avoid appearing as though he was listening. Now his nose was nearly touching it.

"Y-Yeah…" he responded stammering and unable to look at her now. The idea of her possibly having a boyfriend was eating at him.

"Would you want to come with me this afternoon? To meet Apollo? He lives in Orange Park, close to your train station."

"Uh…" Gohan hesitated, unable to answer.

What? Why on Earth was she asking him to meet her...boyfriend? Until this morning Videl had never paid that much attention to him, why was she all of a sudden sitting next to him and asking him to spend time together after school? And why does he live in the park? The park was in the center of the city, so maybe it was a nice neighborhood? If Videl Satan did have a boyfriend he probably would live in the best part of town…This nonstop cycle of questions and assumptions kept Gohan from answering.

"Oh yeah, he does live in the park, doesn't he. Does he still work with kids? He's really good with them!" Erasa said.

"Yeah, but not this time of year it's too cold," Videl replied to Erasa leaning away from Gohan only to lean back and stare directly at him. "Well?"

"Uh, Yeah, sure," Gohan replied trying his best to sound normal. Great now he would have to meet this boyfriend of Videl's. Her giant twenty-year-old boyfriend of four years who was apparently great with kids…

* * *

That afternoon Gohan waited for Videl in the school's courtyard. It was a cold winter day and the skies were overcast. It was definitely going to snow.

"Okay, are you ready?" She asked as she approached him.

"Uh, yeah." He confirmed taking a second to take in her appearance.

Instead of her perfectly tailored school uniform, she was now wearing an outfit that struck him as odd. It consisted of dark green rubber boots that nearly came to her knees, tan colored bottoms that were tucked into the boots, and an old gray weatherproof jacket. Her hair was in two braided pigtails that hung under a matching gray snow hat. All of it was surprisingly filthy and looked as though she was prepared to work outside. Almost like a farmer? He had figured that she would want to dress up to see her boyfriend, not dress down.

Noticing him eying the state of her boots Videl winced having realized something. "Will you be okay wearing that? It'll be really muddy…"

Her boyfriend's house would be muddy? In the center of Satan City?

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Gohan reassured her.

Right as the two made their way out of the school's complex Videl suddenly stopped and stomped her foot.

"Oh no! I forgot to get carrots and apples!" Videl exclaimed. "I have to bring Apollo some carrots and apples since I haven't seen him for a while, he'll act out if I don't. Would you mind if we stopped somewhere to get some?"

"Um… no, it's okay. I don't mind" Gohan answered masking his confusion. What was she talking about now? If she didn't bring him apples and carrots he would act out? As in be unhappy? This guy must be something else. The bitterness that he felt towards this Apollo fellow was growing.

The two then changed direction and Videl led Gohan to a section of Satan City he had never seen. The street was full of market stalls selling all kinds of different goods. She rushed past them quickly, obvious that she knew this area like the back of her hand.

Approaching one chocked full of fruits and vegetables she smiled. Gohan waited behind eyeing all of the produce. He was surprised that given the time of year, the beginning of winter, there was still so much available.

The man who was attending it looked up at Videl. He was short and skinny and looked to be middle-aged. They made eye contact with one another and it was obvious they knew each other.

"Bonjour Monsieur Bleu! Comment allez-vous?" Videl greeted the man happily.

Gohan took a step back surprised at this. It was obvious she was speaking another language. It made sense that she would be able to speak one, the curriculum she was in did have a foreign language requirement. He hadn't expected her to be that comfortable speaking it though.

"Je vais bien. Qu'est-il arrivé à ton visage?" The man said frowning at Videl and pointing to his own eye.

Chuckling Videl responded in turn and the two began to have a conversation. Gohan, unable to follow, decided to inspect the produce more. His eyes lingered on some apples on display.

"Oh, I know these!" He said to himself as he recognized the fruit.

"Sorry Gohan, Mister Blue is a friend, what did you say?" The teenage girl asked him. She looked like she had been feeling bad that she had left him alone.

"Oh nothing, I just know these apples. They're grown in an orchard near where I live." Gohan answered still stunned by the coincidence. He had never realized those apples would be such a commodity.

"Ces pommes sont les meilleures! Vous devez en acheter!" The stall owner said making Videl smile.

Gohan blinked as he didn't know what the man was saying, not a single word.

"Mister Blue says those apples are the best and that I should buy some! I will!" Videl said happily before filling up a basket to the brim with apples and carrots and soon the two were back on their way.

"I can carry that for you if you want." Gohan offered. He could see that Videl was straining a little.

"No, I'm alright," Videl said moving forward her arms tense from the weight of the basket.

"I insist" Gohan offered again and extended his hand out.

"Um, okay, sure." She handed the basket over, but her tone implied she didn't want to. Sometimes it seemed like she was going out of her way to be nice to him.

As Gohan took it he shook his head internally at his luck. This was way too many apples and carrots for one normal person. Videl's boyfriend must be a giant... a giant that was also a vegetarian. And now he was willingly carrying his food for him.

"Sorry about that again Gohan, I don't see Mister Bleu very often. And I don't get to speak French that often either, so I guess I can't resist…" Videl said apologetically.

"No, it's okay… how long have you been able to speak French?" He asked curious eager to not talk about her boyfriend. Thinking back on it, Erasa must have told him that Videl could speak French a while ago, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time.

"Uh, seven years almost? I used to take lessons."

"Did your father make you? My Mom tried to get me to learn Latin...but it didn't work out well..." Gohan cringed at the memory. Foreign languages just didn't suit him.

"No, not at all, I wanted to. I read a book that took place in the West, in one of the French-speaking cities… so I asked my Dad if I could learn, he agreed, but I don't think he thought I was serious… and now I've passed all of the high school French exams with high proficiency!" She admitted triumphantly.

Gohan nodded unable to think of anything to say, clearly impressed. It was evident that Videl was one of the most motivated and hardworking people he had ever met. If she set her mind to do something, she would do it. Her talent went far beyond her reputation and good looks.

"I've thought about offering to tutor rich people's kids for the experience…" Videl continued snapping Gohan out of his thoughts. "But I dunno, I've got a lot going on already."

"I'm sure if anyone could do it, it'd be you." Gohan praised without thinking and looking towards her. She was incredible.

For a second she bit her lip and her cheeks turned pink. Gohan saw this and found it adorable; the sight made his chest flutter.

"Um, maybe… oh, we're here." Videl stated before picking up the pace and going ahead of him.

At hearing that the tender feelings Videl brought up in Gohan wilted away and the bitterness rooted earlier returned. He had forgotten about having to meet this Apollo guy. Looking around, he tilted his head to the side, befuddled. It was just a fenced field. He looked around expecting more, but there wasn't. Just grass. Not a house in sight.

Surprising him, Videl began to climb over the fence in two precise movements. Her boots made twin plop noises when they came in contact with the muddy ground. She then motioned to him with her hand, mirroring what he had done earlier.

"I'll take the basket now so you can climb over."

He did so, his feet sinking into the freezing mud once he stepped in it. His mother was going to be angry with him later, it was already sticking to his shoes. Deciding that he didn't want to keep ChiChi waiting, he would speed things up a bit and get this over with.

"So, where is your b-" Gohan was cut off by Videl. She was making soft clicking noises.

"Apollo...Apollo… come out, we have carrots." She said softly.

Gohan was aghast and stood there unable to speak. Why was she calling her boyfriend like he was a dog? This was getting too weird.

"Oh, you should take one of these. He'll love you." Videl instructed before handing Gohan a carrot. He took it begrudgingly.

Suddenly the sound of hooves grazing against the grass made Gohan look up from his hand. A large chestnut colored horse had approached them. The horse's breath was visible in the cold. Gohan backed away slightly, not out of fear, but hesitation. While he had grown up around all sorts of wild animals, he had little experience with domesticated ones.

"Hello, Apollo!" Videl said happily as she began petting the horse. Apollo bobbed his head up and down recognizing her, his shining mane flowing along in rhythm. She appeared so small compared to him.

Eye-twitching in realization, Gohan began to feel very stupid. Apollo wasn't her boyfriend. He was her horse! Relief flowed through him.

Apollo began to nicker and pushed his large head towards Gohan. The half Saiyan could see his large dark eyes underneath thick eyelashes staring at him. Was he waiting for something?

"Oh!" Gohan exclaimed in realization. The carrot.

"Just hold your hand out flat," Videl instructed and watched Gohan do so.

With a loud chomp, the carrot was gone. Gohan couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Even with Apollo's size, it was still kind of cute. He then petted Apollo and marveled at how soft the texture of his coat was.

"So when you told Erasa and Sharpener you took a tumble…"

"I meant a horse riding accident." Videl concluded for him, "that's why I wanted you to come along, I guess to understand."

Gohan nodded seeing her logic and continued to admire the animal in front of him. As his eyes inspected Apollo's body he couldn't get over the horse's size. How could someone as clumsy and petite as Videl ride a horse this big? Surely a pony would have been more fitting. someone must supervise her and help her up.

"Do you want to feed him some of those apples? I need to brush him, so it'd be good if you kept him distracted." Videl suggested handing him over the basket. Apollo then whinnied, clearly understanding there were treats for him.

The two then worked together in silence. Gohan would distract Apollo with carrots and apples while Videl tended to the horse's coat and hooves with a brush.

"Videl… about your eye… was your father upset?" Gohan asked unable to keep quiet any longer.

"No, he hasn't seen it yet." she answered as she stepped away from the horse and surveyed the animal with her eyes. "he's been away abroad helping make arrangements for the next world tournament."

Gohan's brows rose hearing this "oh, do you get involved much with that?"

Videl grimaced. "No, that is the last thing I would want to be involved in, I do not care for fighting. I avoid it as much as I can." She quipped back the loathing dripping from every word.

Gohan nodded. He ascertained that Videl must have grown up around martial arts to the point of overexposure, a lack of interest would make sense. But still, this might not bode well for him considering his well, history in the subject.

"What about you? Are you interested in fighting? Because of your Dad?"

Gohan's stomach flipped over and his tongue turned to leather in his mouth. Had Videl just asked him…

"Your father is Son Goku, right? The guy who won the tournament before my father did?" Videl carried on.

"Y-yes, he is…" Gohan said quietly summoning the strength to answer. "H-how long have you known?"

"I had an inkling and checked a few days ago… I probably just saw your father's photo a few times.." she admitted.

"Y-yeah, that makes sense…" Gohan said absorbing this new information. Wow, Videl was so clever! She really was one of the more talented students at Orange Star and it had nothing to do with her father's fame or her pretty face.

"To answer your question, no, I'm not really interested in fighting either… but my father…" Gohan paused not knowing how to phrase the rest of his thought… what he wanted to say was that his father, unlike Videl's, didn't run a massive martial arts business empire… and not to mention his father was technically dead.

"Yeah… I try to avoid anything martial arts related honestly… I mean.." she gestured with her hands to the horse, "if that isn't obvious…"

Gohan then chuckled a bit before patting Apollo in-between the eyes. No, Hercule Satan's daughter definitely was cut from a different cloth, that was evident.

"Do you have to do this every day?" Gohan asked wondering if that was why she left so abruptly sometimes before biting into one of the apples. Apollo had eagerly gone through most of it, but there were a few left.

"No, there is a stable hand here, but I like to help out every now and then," Videl said as she bent down to take one of the apples for herself and biting into it. As soon as she tasted it her eyes went wide "Oh whoa, that is really nice!"

Having a mouthful of apple, Gohan nodded and smiled finding her cute. He was glad that he had come. It was nice to be outside despite the cold. There weren't many chances to enjoy the outdoors since beginning school.

"So, have you always been good with animals Gohan?" Videl asked between bites as she looked towards Apollo. He was grazing a few feet ahead of them.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I have…" He answered. There was no use in denying it or asking how she knew. Videl obviously had great deductive reasoning skills. She would make a great detective.

"We should spend more time together you know... I could use your help with math if that's all right?" she began to walk up to the horse and ran her hand down his flank slowly.

Videl's back was facing Gohan. His eyes began to trail up her boots and legs. Something in him was stirring, excited at the idea of spending more time with her. He was still thrown off that she was suddenly so willing to do so, but decided against questioning it.

"Yeah, we could do that…" He said his voice low as he stared at her.

As if on cue, snow began to fall. As the flakes hit Apollo's face he exhaled loudly and shook his head several times making Gohan and Videl laugh at the sight.

"Okay, there-there… I'll put you to bed soon…" Videl spoke softly as she patted his flank. The horse calmed down instantly hearing her speak.

Warmth flooded to Gohan's face as he witnessed this. The sight of it wasn't just soothing the horse, but him too. Her nose and cheeks were red from the cold and the contrast of the grey skies and her smooth fair skin illuminated her. There was something magical about her. Images from his dream featuring Videl flashed through his mind.

He saw her shiver and briefly he wondered what it would be like to wrap his arms around her.

Both Videl and Apollo looked up when Gohan's phone began to buzz in his pocket. He took it out and flinched seeing who it was. His mother. And it was already six o'clock.

"Hello?" He answered giving Videl a look that said 'I'm sorry'. She just waved him off, signaling that it was alright.

 _Gohan where are you? You said you didn't have any plans tonight! And I just saw that it's snowing in Satan City!_

"Yeah Mom, sorry, I got held up, I'll be on my way home soon."

 _Held up? With what?_

"A friend, she asked me to come visit her horse," Gohan stated as though this was normal.

 _What?! She?! Her horse?! Who's this friend?!_

"I'll explain later Mom, I'll leave now." He then hung up knowing his mother would just keep going.

Sighing at realizing he had to go, Gohan looked at Videl. "Sorry about that…" his tone was sheepish as he put a hand on his head.

"It's okay. You should get going… I'll go home after I put him in." Videl reassured him. She seemed happy. A few strands of her hair had fallen loose from her braids and framed her face.

"Um, okay then… I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yep, thanks for coming along… I just felt bad that you had to get involved in my lie…" Videl admitted as her crystal blue eyes stared at the ground.

"Oh, it's okay…" Gohan wanted to ask her again what had been going on. Why did she try to fight that guy anyway? But he didn't want to ruin the nice time they just had together and he had to get going.

"I'll get your number off of Erasa, we should do this again. Or study together or something." She offered now staring back up at him smiling.

His heart skipped a beat at seeing her smile.

"Yeah, that sounds good." He said fully intending to leave. He turned quickly to make his way out but hadn't anticipated that the once muddy ground would now be in the process of freezing. Ice crystals had begun to form making the surface slick and he lost his balance and would have fallen over.

If Videl hadn't managed to grab his arm steadying him. "Careful, it can get slippery here," she said cheekily holding a hand up against her mouth, holding back a laugh.

"T-thanks." He said before leaving his face red as a tomato. How many times could he embarrass himself in front of her today?

* * *

Gohan sighed in relief as he exited the park. He stopped at a small spigot that was probably intended to be used for dogs, but he began to try to clean off his shoes. His mother was notoriously adamant that he take care of his clothes and if she saw the current state of his shoes, he doubted she would let him into their house. It took him several minutes to get most of the caked on mud off.

Finally happy with it, Gohan took a quick look around to make sure there was no one around before levitating into the sky. After rising few stories high, he looked back at Satan City. It was then that he saw her. The Satan City Heroine.

His heart stopped. It was definitely her. She was on the top of an adjacent building with her grappling gun in hand. She was on the move.

Without thinking Gohan flew after her and descended next to her. His mother could wait. Now was his chance.

"Hey." He said causing her to jump and turn around facing him.

He couldn't believe his luck, that he was next to her again. She stood there in front of him, silent, her cape flowing behind her. She looked just like how she did in photos. The snow was falling more and more and flakes were sticking on her helmet for a brief second before melting. He could even make out her breath.

"Who are you?" He asked not wanting to waste any time.

She didn't respond and turned away from him. This annoyed him. Without saying a word she shot her grappling gun and aimed downwards, propelling herself to another building.

"Hey! Get back here! Just tell me who you are!" Gohan jumped after her clearly exposing his abilities, not caring what she would think.

"I won't hurt you, I just want to know who you are!" Gohan said trying to sound civil but he was losing his patience. He reached out to grab her shoulder.

He saw her tense up and that something was clenched in her hand.

"Not today, sorry about this." She said, something about her voice sounding familiar.

"Sorry about what?" He asked thrown off that she actually spoke. She sounded so...young. And so gentle too. He had thought she was going to be hostile.

Suddenly his shirt felt very wet as something collided against him. She had thrown something at him and it had exploded.

"What the?" Gohan said as he pressed his hands against his shirt for a second, inspecting his palms they were covered in a deep dark blue substance and there was loads of it. Realising it was ink and that it penetrated through all of his layers of clothing leaving them stained he groaned "oh my mom is going to kill me!"

He ripped his coat off in frustration. It was already freezing and wearing a drenched coat was not a good idea. Of course, the mystery woman had used this opportunity to escape. Desperately he tried to sense her ki, but nothing was there. There was the option of ascending higher and simply looking for her, but she had headed into the more populated areas of the city where he would definitely be noticed.

* * *

 _ **Just a small note here, I think a lot of you aren't going to like the French stuff and my only response regarding that is, eh? I like the idea of Videl being fluent in another language as I want her to be just as intelligent as Gohan but in other subjects. It also helps to broaden her personality some, which the majority of this chapter was, the two of them trying to get to know one another. I chose French because I buy into it being more elegant and I love France so that was just a personal choice, BUT France does not exist in the world of this story. Just the language does. I don't want to bother creating another Dragonball only language and I honestly just used google translate for the French that I used, so apologies to actual French speakers if it's awful. Don't worry, there shouldn't be many more scenes featuring it.**_

 _ **I think it is more than obvious that I don't follow the Dragonball mythos at all in any of my stories, it's just something I'm choosing to do. So apologies if I have taken too many liberties and it's distracting, but the changes I've made are here to stay.**_

 _ **Anyway, please review with any thoughts as usual and thanks to everyone who has reviewed and for all of your feedback.**_


	12. Videl IV

_**Major thank you to CC6512 who drew the cover page for this! Her art is absolutely amazing guys, please check her out either on tumblr, pixiv, or deviantart !**_

* * *

 **Role Reversal Chapter 12- Videl IV**

* * *

"Videl, you have to spill about what's going on!" Erasa demanded as her eyes narrowed. The serious tone of her voice was a drastic contrast to her usual cheeriness.

"W-what?" Videl stammered as she became alarmed at her friend's words. It was Sunday afternoon and Erasa had invited her out for lunch. The two of them were sitting at a table at a small cafe and had received their food and drinks. Up until this point, the experience had been lovely.

"Yeah, you've been like extra weird lately you know… Sharpener's noticed too and I think I have it figured out!" Erasa began to smirk knowingly.

"What are you talking about?" Videl questioned pretending to be confident, surely they hadn't managed to discover…

"Your secret," she said as she pointed a finger at Videl.

A sense of impending doom fell over Videl. Her worst fear was that her friends would figure out her secret identity. As much as she attempted to balance it with school, it was becoming harder and harder… even if over the last few weeks there had been a major decline in crime and she hadn't needed to suit up once. The public's interest in the Satan City Heroine was becoming too much… maybe it was good Erasa had finally figured it out. Videl took a large swig of tea to clear her throat and to mentally prepare herself to be honest with her childhood best friend.

"You and Gohan have something going on don't you!"

Videl began to choke on the tea and had to stop herself from spitting it everywhere.

"What? Me and Gohan?!"

"Yeah! I knew it! Look at your face, you're so shocked!" Erasa was full of glee seeing Videl's reaction.

"Erasa, what the hell! There's nothing going on with Gohan and I… you just scared me…" Videl said as she sighed and released the tension that had built up in her muscles. That was a close one.

"Whatever Videl, there's totally something happening between you two!" The blonde said almost singing.

Right as Videl was about to speak Erasa put her hand up silencing her.

"You are WAY nicer to him than anyone else, you sit next to him every day, you are always talking to him, and you asked him to meet Apollo! You've known Sharpener for years and have never once taken him to see Apollo! And Sharpener actually likes horses!"

Videl took a second to process this. "...I've really never asked Sharpener, have I?" She said as she acknowledged the statement in her mind. Maybe Bulma had been right, maybe she was cagey with others… guilt began to build up within her, maybe she was neglecting her friends.

"No! Honestly, you talk to Gohan more now than you speak to me!" Erasa retorted.

Videl was about to argue that no, she didn't, when her phone which was on the table completely visible to the both of them, pinged signalling that she had received a text. The screen lit up with the name 'Gohan' appearing. He had chosen the worst possible moment to text her.

Erasa had never appeared smugger. She pursed her lips together and gave Videl an insinuating look.

"What?! I asked him a question about my math homework…" She really had, Gohan was so good at explaining it. Over the past two weeks since Bulma had encouraged Videl to bring him along to meet Apollo, whatever barriers had been between the two had broken. Their knowledge in different subjects complemented one another perfectly and it somehow always worked out that they could exchange help evenly. The topics of their conversations didn't go beyond school and Gohan asking about Apollo every now and then.

"You could ask me you know, I'm in the same classes as Gohan," Erasa said.

Videl hesitated, "Well… yeah… but…"

Erasa's cheeks puffed up having taking offence, "but what?!"

"He's just better at explaining it Erasa! It's true! How many times have you tried to tutor me and it's not gone over well?"

"Humph, I could so tutor you!" Erasa said sternly. "Besides, that isn't what we are here to talk about! We need to discuss whatever is going on between the two of you!"

"There's nothing going on!" Videl defended with all her might.

"Well, he definitely likes you… even Sharpener thinks so!" The blonde was grinning.

"W-what?" The idea of Gohan liking her made Videl feel strange.

"Yeah, he stares at you ALL the time, he's always so eager to see you, it's cute really," Erasa said beginning to gush a little.

"N-no he doesn't," Videl said more to herself. Again, something about Gohan doing all of these things for her didn't settle right, her body was reacting in a foreign way. It unnerved her.

"He does! You need to pay more attention!" Erasa belittled her.

"Will you cut it out? I'm going to eat your cake!" Videl then inserted her fork into Erasa's slice of chocolate cake to distract her.

It worked. Erasa gasped over dramatically and the two girls began to laugh.

* * *

During the next few days at school, Videl couldn't get Erasa's implication out of her mind when she was around Gohan.

He couldn't possibly like her like that, it was just too weird. Sure, he was always really nice to her and was always willing to help whenever she asked… but that was because Gohan was just a nice guy. He would do that for anyone.

"Hey, Videl." Gohan greeted her smiling as he sat down next to her. It was their morning class, the only one the two of them shared.

"Morning Gohan…" Videl resounded trying to shake off her earlier thoughts.

Her eyes glanced at his bag which was placed right in front of her. There was a dark blue stain on the strap. Shame crept over her. It had been her that did that.

"Do you think you're ready for the exam today?" Gohan asked, adjusting his seat. He scooted closer to her.

Taking in his behaviour Videl realised something. He was much more comfortable around her now than before. When he had first started here he would keep his distance from her and have always seemed uneasy in her presence. She remembered how much that annoyed her at the time.

Even when she sat next to him at the art museum, which was uncharacteristic of her, he immediately scooted away from her. Now he was actually scooting towards her…and she found it exciting.

The art museum... memories of him chasing after her and trying to take her hand and comfort her…that all seemed so long ago. At the time she had taken her hand away, dismissing him. It was amazing that he still spoke to her after that considering how she treated him. Bulma was right, Gohan did have a forgiving nature to be able to overlook such things.

"Videl? Are you okay?" His voice snapped her out of it.

She looked at him to respond. As her eyes made contact with his she suddenly found him handsome. A strange heat began to spread up from her chest and into her face.

"Y-yeah, sorry, just thinking…"

"Oh okay. Do you think you're ready for the exam today?" Gohan asked.

Gohan was always overly preparing for exams. It was kind of funny because Videl's friends used to give her grief for doing the same, but he took it to a different level.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay," She murmured before opening her book and staring at the text. She was finally calming down.

"Of course you will," Gohan added on chuckling.

The pink colour returned to Videl's cheeks.

* * *

The entire classroom jumped when someone's phone went off in the middle of the exam. The girl who it belonged to immediately began rummaging through her things to find it and shut it off. She did and glanced at the screen.

"Oh my god! City hall has been taken over! By the Red Shark Gang!" With the silence of the classroom, her voice was booming. Coincidentally it was the same girl that had informed the class about the fire.

Videl didn't have time to realise this though as she immediately looked up away from her exam and her adrenaline began to rise. How could those stupid Red Sharks possibly be at it again? Why now?

"Miss Hana, thank you for informing the class of this, but could you please put your phone away and get back to your exam!" Ms Espinacas name chastised the student with fervour.

"Y-yes, sorry…" the girl then sheepishly put her phone away.

All of the students returned their attention back to their exams except for Videl. Chewing on her lip and full of apprehension she didn't know what to do. If the people in city hall were in danger, how could she help them?

She began to stand only to feel someone's hand on her forearm.

"What are you doing?" Gohan whispered looking back and forth at Videl and the teacher. Ms Espinacas' attention was focused on her laptop in that instance and she had not noticed Videl yet. His hand was wrapped around her arm and his grip felt restrained. A chill went up Videl's spine as she realised he had the strength to keep her there if he really wanted to.

"I-I have to go…" Videl whispered back avoiding eye-contact. His touch was also having that effect on her. There wasn't time for this!

"What? Why?" Gohan asked stopping to make sure the teacher was still distracted, "Videl, if you go she won't let you make this up…" he reasoned. It was obvious he was really worried about her but was agitated with her behaviour too. She could tell that he was holding back both his strength and patience with her. She instantly felt ashamed that now she wasn't just lying to her old friends, but her new one too.

Videl knew she had to hurry. She found the strength to push his hand off of her before beginning to leave the room.

"Miss Satan! Where do you think you're going?!" The Ms Espinacas screeched.

Videl turned pale. Ms Espinacas was already annoyed with her previous outgoings and had actually already called her father about it after last time. Luckily Hercule took the incident as a one-off because Videl had such good marks, but he probably wouldn't a second time.

"I-I have to go call my father… he's at city hall!" She lied awkwardly. The sense of urgency she was experiencing was unreal, she couldn't think straight.

Ms Espinacas eyes narrowed at this as she deliberated over Videl's words.

"If you're not back in five minutes, I will personally see to it that you fail this course. I cannot tolerate any more disrespect from you Ms Satan…" her tone was ice cold.

Everyone in the class was staring now, all exams were forgotten. Videl was stunned, she stood with her mouth gaping. A teacher had never spoken to her like that, ever. Something inside her snapped and she became angry. Unable to keep face she rolled her eyes and huffed before running out the door, intentionally slamming it as loudly as possible behind her.

Videl ran as fast as she could to the school's courtyard. Luckily, it was abandoned. Stopping she began to pull out her phone. She dialled and her head was spinning.

" _Hello?"_ Bulma answered.

"Hey… it's...Videl…" Videl had to take breaths in between. She was winded and the cold air outside wasn't helping.

" _Oh hey, what's up?"_

"Bulma! I don't have time for this, city hall is being taken over and I can't go help because Ms Espinacas is being a right bitch now and I don't know what to do, I'm really freaking out!" The words came out quickly and haphazardly. Videl was on the verge of tears from all of the humiliation and frustration.

" _Okay, Okay, calm down, I think I have an idea… just go back inside okay? It'll be fine."_ Bulma reassured her before hanging up.

Videl then took the phone away from her ear and stared at it. The cold was making her hands numb already. She began to shiver as her coat had been forgotten about in the classroom.

Glancing at her watch she groaned. She literally only had a minute to get back to class.

* * *

Entering the classroom Videl avoided everyone's glances as she approached her seat. She was still breathing hard. Her lungs were stinging from all of the cold air she had inhaled and her hands were red with hardly any feeling left in them.

She briefly struggled to hold her pen before returning her attention back to her exam.

After the last of the exams had been collected, nearly every study was scrambling checking their phones.

"Before any of you look and ignore that phones aren't allowed, City Hall is fine, the Satan City Heroine saved the day," the Ms Espinacas informed everyone.

Much to her dismay though, none of the students listened and was engrossed on their phones anyway. Gasps were heard.

"What the fuck?!" Videl cried out as she read the headline of one article.

 _ **Satan City Heroine Mesmerised by Flying in to Save City Hall**_

Accompanying the article were several clear photos of someone in her suit over five stories in the air.

Videl was completely unaware of everyone around her, Gohan, Erasa, Sharpener, all looking at her surprised that she swore. Her ears were ringing and her insides were twisting. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Videl, are you okay?" Erasa asked getting out of her seat and wrapping an arm around her best friend.

"Y-Yeah… I just don't understand how it's possible…" Videl strained to speak.

"Is your father alright?" Gohan asked, surprising both girls. His voice was off. His tone was serious and his appearance had somehow changed like he was on edge.

"Oh y-yeah, he's fine, he had already left actually…" Videl lied, her contorted insides spasming further. Lying was not as easy as it used to be.

Gohan took a deep breath as though he was trying to calm down. Videl could see that his brow was furrowed and his fists clenched, something was agonizing him. Could he know who was in her suit?

Shaking his head he then looked at Videl smiling again but for once it felt forced, "that's great Videl. When did he get back anyway?"

Videl blinked, surprised by this question and unable to answer.

"...back?" She asked. He really had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yeah… when did your Dad get back from being abroad? You told me last week that he was gone again and wouldn't be back for a few weeks this time."

Videl bit her cheek. 'Shit, why does he have to be such a good listener?!' she thought. Her father was currently out of town again and wasn't going to be back for weeks.

"Uh, I don't really know, he came back late last night but has to go back tomorrow morning… probably some sort of… business thing?" Videl managed to say.

This must have worked though because Gohan nodded. He then began to look sombre again and proceeded to return his attention to his phone.

* * *

The rest of the day slogged on. Videl had tried to text Bulma numerous times asking what on earth was going on, but she never responded.

Videl, Gohan, Sharpener, and Erasa were all sat at a table. Since there were several mid-term exams going on, students had been allowed to have an afternoon study period right before the end of the day. Both Videl and Gohan had been quiet.

"Oh wow there's more photos of the Heroine flying! That is just so cool!" Erasa exclaimed as she scrolled through them all on her phone.

"That can't be real. There's just no way…" Sharpener said full of cynicism peering over Erasa's shoulder.

"Uh, hello? Can you not see this!" Erasa chastised him by putting her phone right in his face.

Sharpener swatted her phone out of his face.

"What do you think Gohan?" Erasa asked trying to get someone on her side.

"What?" Gohan looked up surprised taking a second to process what Erasa had asked before becoming unusually defensive, "I-I don't know what I think…"

"What makes you think Gohan would know anything anyway?"Sharpener said chuckling. It wasn't personal at Gohan.

"I don't know? Just trying to get different opinions Sharpener, god you're so stubborn!" Erasa then proceeded to whack him on the head.

"Gohan… do you have any ideas? As to how… she flew like that…?" Videl asked almost desperate as the two blondes were busy in their scuffle.

Gohan stared at her intensely for a few seconds before answering "uh, no… people can't fly…" he said looking away with a hand behind his head.

Videl's nose crinkled. This situation with all of its secrecy was so frustrating! Gohan definitely could help, but that would mean revealing that she knows he can fly and to do that she would have to reveal that she is the Satan City Heroine which she couldn't possibly do… what an absolute mess!

Her thoughts were cut short. The last bell rang and students began to head to the doors.

"Videl I have to go I can't study with you after," Gohan stated flatly.

"Oh, oh!" Videl responded as she had completely forgotten she and Gohan were meant to study together after school, "that's okay, something urgent came up actually… we can reschedule?"

"Okay, that sounds good." he murmured as he quickly packed his bag, "bye everyone! I'll see you tomorrow" Gohan then proceeded to quickly walk out.

As Videl watched him leave she realised Gohan was acting exactly as he had at the art museum and in the street that time she got punched in the face. He had to have known something, but there was no way she could question him about it. Frustrated with that and whatever was going on with her alter ego, she also told Erasa and Sharpener goodbye before rushing off to the train station herself.

She had to speak to Bulma and as soon as possible.

* * *

 ** _I don't have much to say_** for ** _this chapter, except that I think Role Reversal is still in a bit of an awkward place and_** hopefully ** _after this_** chapter ** _it'll get back on track. I was unable to get this properly beta-read, so apologies if_** there's ** _some major errors in there._**

 ** _Thanks so much to everyone who I consulted and requested a read through from!_**

 ** _Review what you think please, I would love to hear all thoughts!_**


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